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PRINCETON, N. J.

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Division. X.SSQS

Section

Number ..'Si. t.

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Mount Fuji. Frontispiece to Vol. u.

ITS

JAPAN:

HISTORY, TRADITIONS,
AND RELIGIONS.

WITH THE

NARRATIVE OF A VISIT IN 1879.

By Sir Edward J. REED, K.C.B., F.R.S., M.P.,

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS;

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF CIVIL ENGINEERS AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS;
KNIGHT OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ORDER OF ST. STANISLAUS, OF THE
AUSTRIAN ORDER OF FRANCIS JOSEPH, AND OF THE
TURKISH ORDER OF THE MEDJIDifi, ETC.

IN TWO VOLUMES.— VoL. II.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

LONDON:

JOHN MUKKAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1880.

[The. Eight of Translation is reserred.']

LONDON :

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS.

{VOL. II.)

CHAPTEK I.

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN — FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

Our first view of Japan — The sacred mountain Fuji-yama — Coast scenery
— Yokohama Bay — Our landing — Reception on shore — A small
summer palace of the emperor — Railways of Japan — Arrival in Tokio
— The residence of Admiral Kawamura — Memoranda by E. Tenn
Reed — Jwrihi-shas — Costumes of the people — Japanese shops — Torii —
A Shinto temple — Mode of worship — Shinto priests — A movable shop
— The police — The children— Shampooers — Outside the town —
Country scenery — Rice-fields — An inland town — Tea-drinking — The
national beverage, soke — A Buddhist temple — Buddhistic worship —
The lotus emblem — Japanese animals — Excursion vans. Pages 1-18

CHAPTEE II.

A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL.

Our courteous reception there — Imperial princes and princesses — Ministers
of state — The prime minister Sanjo — The founding of Tokio (Yedo) —
The castle — Splendid temples — Wooyeno Park — European buildings —
Native shops — The metropolitan temple of Asakusa — The Nio, or
giant gate-keepers — The remedial idol, Binzuru — Curious modes of
worship — A praying- wheel — Japanese lacquer and bronze — Devoted
workmen — Early lacquer- work — Decline and revival of the manufacture
— The processes employed — Early and modern bronzes — Modes of pro-
duction— Exact reproductions avoided — Art-work — Coloured pictures
in metal — Repousse work — An unequalled work of art — The j)aper-
mills of Oji — Paper-manufacture — Multiplied uses of paper — The
government and administration of Tokio — An official statistical
account ......... 19-47

a 2

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK III.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Early Japanese an unwritten language — Transmission of records by word
of mouth — The Indian Yedas — A colossal system of mnemonics —
Ancient language of Japan — The Loo-choo dialect — Japanese a Tn-
ranian tongue — Mr. Hyde Clarke’s theory of an ancient Turano- African
empire — Intercourse with Korea — Influence of Chinese literature —
“ Letters of the god-age ” — The alphabet — Spoken and written language
—Difficulties of exploring Japanese literature — Diary of the old court
noble — A Japanese classic — Japanese poetry — Poetry of the gods — A
verse by the god Susanoo — Chant of the goddess Uzume — A “ No ” —
Specimens of native poetry — Eemarkable influence of women upon
literature — Interchange of prose and poetry between a Chinaman and
a Japanese — Captain Brinkley on the Japanese language — Mr. Hyde
Clarke’s Turano- African theory .... Pages 48-79

CHAPTEE IV.

DRAWING AND PAINTING.

Our opportunities of studying Japanese art — Temple art treasures — Studies
in Kioto — Artistic seances — Foreign derivation of the art — Government
patronage — Early artists of distinction — Kano and his school — The
Tobo school — Okio and the Shiyo Riu — Hokusai, the Japanese Hogarth
— The “ schools” of Japan — Professor Anderson upon Jajmnese design,
composition, drawing, perspective, chiaroscuro, and colour — The beauty
of the human form not duly appreciated in Japan — Sir Rutherford
Alcock on Japanese art — Frequent recurrence of pictorial subjects —
Legend of the cuckoo and the moon — Anticipated progress of the
Japanese in European art styles — Their technical mastery . 80-104

CHAPTER V.

PROVERBS AND PHRASES OF THE PEOPLE.

Many proverbs and proverbial sayings — Expressions for what is impossible
— Injunctions for avoiding the appearance of evil . . 105-112

CHAPTEE VI.

THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

Departure from Yokohama in the Meiji Maru — The lighthouse of Oosima
— Precautions against earthquakes — A natural breakwater — Kobe and
Hiogo — Waterfalls — Temples and shrines — The club at Kobe — Scenery

CONTENTS.

of the Inland Sea — The bay and castle of Mihara — A beautiful dawn —
Takahara — The ancient temples of Miyajima — A torii in the sea —
Sacred deer and monkeys — The Shinto shrines — Origin of the temple —
A homeless goddess — A rebellion and a revenge — Shimonoseki — The
straits of that name — The attack of the combined squadrons in 1864 —
An indemnity extorted by the aggressors — The town of Shimonoseki
— A legend of its temple — A change of weather — Nagasaki harbour
— One Pine-tree House — A singular imperial salute — The coal-mines of
Takashima — Government establishments — A Church missionary — The
fatal isle of Pappenberg — Eeturn trip through the Inland Sea — The
ancient city of Osaka — Its historic associations. . Pages 113-136

CHAPTEK VII.

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

Approach to the city — Well-managed railways — The imperial reception-
house — Governor Watanab^ — A nursery garden — Views over the city —
Kozu, the temple of deified emperors — Another Shinto temple — An
ancient Buddhist temple — Reminiscences of Prince Shotoku-taishi —
The temple of the sea-gods — A musical service therein — A prehistoric
boat — Divine jewels (magatama) — A Japanese fair — The castle of Osaka
— Its modern arsenal — Immense monoliths — A ceiling of arrows — A
gilded roof — the castle keep — Inspections of barracks — Studious soldiers
— A private Japanese dinner — A public dinner — Japanese music and
dances — A speech by the President of the Chamber of Commerce — A
pretty comjdiment — Dramatic performances — A purchasing expedition
— The power of art — Presents — The imperial mint — The new coinage
— Output of the mint ....... 137-154

CHAPTEE VIII.

THE SACKED CITY OF NAHA.

Interest felt in the city — View of the people — Men of average stature,
women small — Picturesque children — Visit to Sakai — Road to Nara —
Shadoofs — Burial-places of the Mikados — Tomb of the war-god Ojin—
Raised river-beds — Village graveyards — Scenery — River navigation —
The ancient temples of Hori-uji — Relic of Buddha — Carvings of Prince
Shotoku — First view of Nara — Careful cultivation of the land — Our
temple-abode — The great temple of Dai-butsu — The colossal god of bronze
and gold — The supporters of the god — Historic relics — Footprint of
Buddha — Temples of Kwannon — A fine landscape — A tea-house — More
Buddhist and Shinto temples — Courtesy and hospitality of the priests
—Temple avenues— Dance of the virgin priestesses — An ancient pine-
tree — Curiosity shops — Return start — Site and limits of the ancient
city — Group of Shinto temples near Sakai — A Japanese interior — More
hospitality — Osaka again ...... 155-178

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK IX.

KIOTO, OR SAIKIO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

Changes of name — The “cockpit” of Japan— Arrival at Kioto — Lodgings
in a Buddhist temple — Baths of Maruyama — General view of the
city — Temples of Higashi-Otani and Chionin — The Mikado’s palace
— The emperor-god — The throne-room, study, bed-chamber — The
, apartments of the empress — Imperial gardens — Shinto temple at
Shimagomo — A summer-seat of the Mikado — The silver-storied temple
— Pastimes of the sacred and secular monarchs — Temples of the eight
million gods — Other temples — Government industrial establishments
and schools — Female normal school — “ Sweet girl-graduates ” — Educa-
tion of dancing-girls and geishas — A banquet with Buddhist digni-
taries— Illuminations — Arashiyama — Fishing and boating on a moun-
tain river — A palace tiffin — Japanese music — The Toji temples —
Superfluous gods — Another Buddhist banquet — Ancient Japanese and
Chinese temple dances — Presents — The gentle Buddha — An historical
exhibition — Literary treasures — Porcelain works — Hideyoshi at
“ Clear-water Temple ” — Nishi - Otani — National dances — Silk and
other factories — Street strolls — Mount Hiyei . . Pages 179-230

CHAPTEE X.

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

Start from Kioto — Otsu — Lake Biwa — The famous temples of Ishiyama-
dera — Their legendary origin — An ancient authoress — The extraordi-
nary mountain pass of Sudsuga — Jinriki-slia men — Pilgrims to Isd —
The road to the shrines — Legend of a pine-tree — Matsuzaka, the birth-
place of Motoori — His writings — A wet evening — Visit to a girls’ school
— More pilgrims — The Geku shrine — The goddess worshipped there —
Offence of the god Susanoo — Origin of the imperial regalia of Japan —
The Naiku or inner shrine of the sun-goddess — The sacred mirror —
The pilgrims at the end of their pilgrimage — A ceremonial temple
dance performed by virgin priestesses — Shinto worship at its most
sacred shrine — Solemn woods — The ancient faith — “A. study in blue
and gold — The “ Temple of Immortal Splendour ” — The return —
Picturesque scenes — Still pilgrims — Their costumes and equipments —
The simplicity and purity of Shinto worship . . . 231-261

CHAPTEE XI.

NAGOYA AND THE SHRINE OF THE SACRED SWORD,

The town of Tsu — An attack of illness in Yokkaichi— Amateur artists—
Habits of the Japanese — Mountain scenery — Sail on a river — The town

CONTENTS.

Vll

of Miya' — The Atsiita shrine — The sacred sword “ Cloud Cluster ” —
Yamato-Dake — His expedition against the Ainos — The name of the
sword changed to “ Grass-mower” — Native history of the sacred sword
— Estimation in which swords are held in Japan — Their forms and
qualities — Sword-making a profession of honour — Sword inscriptions —
Etiquette of the sword — The city of Nagoya — A banquet and an ex-
hibition of porcelain — Amateur drawings and writings — Nagoya Castle
— Its towers surmounted with golden fishes — An attempt to steal them
— History of the castle— Kato Kiyomasa, its designer — Palace of the
Shogun ........ Pages 262-276

CHAPTEK XII.

TO shidzuoka: the home of the tokugawas.

Early departure from Nagoya — The great Tokaido road — Monument to
“the Shogun of three days” — Okazaki, the birthplace of lyeyasu —
Yoshida — A famous artist — Our picturesque procession — Miraculous
appearance of the goddess Kwannon — A colossal statue to the goddess
— Fuji-yama again — A shrine of splendour — Beauty of the sea — The
gate of Aral — The fishers of Mayezaka — Bridge over the Tenriu, 4000
feet long — A windy day in the hills — Kagos, or mountain chairs —
Swiss-like scenery — A scene for artists — A tunnel through a mountain
— Shidzuoka — Lacquer, inlaid, and bamboo work — Japanese tea-culti-
vation— Large exports of tea — lyeyasu’s love of literature — The last of
the Tycoons — A picture painted by him — An eminent litterateur —
Legends of the Night-crying Stone, the Sworded Pheasant, and the
Wishing Bell 277-292

CHAPTER XIII.

FUJI-YAMA AND THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS.

Height, solitude, and solemnity of the sacred mountain — A dormant rather
than an extinct volcano — Legend of its origin — Cultivation of its slopes
— Pilgrimages to its summit — Its splendid appearance — Seikenji, or
“ Clear View Temple” — Temple treasures — The Mikado’s gifts of gold
cups — Saruga Bay — Fish-drying — Production of salt — Arrival at
Mishima — The great Shinto temple — Chief priest Mayada — More
treasures — A vase of the god-period — “ God’s food ” — The kago of
Mishima’s god — Mountain-A^a^os — Discomfort of the kago to Euro-
peans— “ Asleep at the wrong end ” — Splendid scenery of the Hakone
mountains — Views of the Idzu hills — The Japanese nightingale —
Roadside scenes — Fuji disappears in the mist — Police escorts of the
ministers — Dangerous effects of foreign pressure — Hakone lake —
Kaempfer’s description — Hakone gate in the old days — Mountain and
forest beauty— Asleep in a kago — The Sea of Sagarai — The baths of
Yumoto — A native hotel— Mixed bathing — “Honi soitqiii mal y pcnse !”

Vlll

CONTENTS.

— Our final day on the Tokaido — Speed of the jinriki-sha men —
Neglected state of the great high-road — Second arrival in Tokio — A
hearty welcome ....... Pages 293-310

Appendices : —

Treaties and Conventions ...... 311-325

List of Emperors . . . . . . . . 326, 327

List of year-periods ....... 328-330

Comparative table of words in Japanese, West African,

and other languages ....... 331-337

Celebrated swords and makers ..... 338-342

Index .......... 343-356

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

{VOL. II.)

JjuU-lJiige 0ugntbmg0.

Mount Fuji Frontispiece.

YoSITUNE RIDII^a ON THE TeNGU ; 2. TaIBO, A FaBULOUS

Bird ......... Facing

The Ascending Dragon ...... „

A Falcon ........ „

The Great Temple of Dai-butsu, at Nara . . „

Origin of the Kake-mono, or Hanging Picture
A Dancing Girl ......

Soldiers in Time of Peace ....

^^Uitor ^ngritbing0.

Railways of Japan .....

Hair of Labourer .....

Rinto, or Dragon Lantern of Kufukuji
A Praying-Wheel .....

Japanese Junks ......

Ancient Burial Place of an Emperor .

The Colossal Dai-butsu of Kamakura .

Tower of Nagoya Castle ....

Gold Fish of Nagoya Castle

PAGE

104

136

170

218

273

300

7i)

112

178

230

201

VOL. II.

JAPAN:

ITS HISTORY, TRADITIONS, AND RELIGIONS.

CHAPTER I.

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN — FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

Our first view of Japan — The sacred mountain Fuji-yama — Coast scenery
— Yokohama Bay — Our landing — Reception on shore — A small
summer palace of the emperor — Railways of Japan — Arrival in Tokio
— The residence of Admiral Kawamura — Memoranda by E. Tenn.
Reed — Jinriki-shas — Costumes of the people — Jajianese shops — IWH —
A Shinto temple — Mode of worship — Shinto priests — A movable shoji
— The police — 'The children — Shampooers — Outside the town — Country
scenery — Rice- fields — An inland town — Tea-drinking — The national
beverage, sake — A Buddhist temple — Buddhistic worship — The lotus
emblem — Japanese animals — Excursion vans.

It was on a fine breezy morning early in the year (January
10) that we first saw the land of Japan proper. Approach-
ing it from Hong Kong, and by the southern route, which
passes among the solitary Loo-choo Islands, the lordly and
heautiful Fuji-yama rose up before us long before any other
land was visible. Like a vast and splendid temple, it stood
high above the ocean-plain, white with snow, and glittering
in the sun. I shall have many occasions hereafter for
speaking in admiration of this wondrous object, and will
therefore only remark here that if one’s memories of Japan
were destined to fade one by one, I believe the very last to
disappear would be that of Fuji-san,* as first seen from
the sea, at a distance of nearly one hundred miles.

* Fuji-san is more correct than us) of Fuji-yama, hut usage has
the more popular designation (among juslified the employment of eitlier

VOL. II. B

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

With interest ever deepening, through the day we saw the
picturesque shores of Japan gradually displayed as we
approached, broken as they are, and as artists must exult
to see them, into hills and headlands, valleys and sand-
beaches, rocks and caves, in indescribable variety. On many
an island and promontory stand lighthouses — those beacons
of civilisation of which any nation may well be proud.*
The days being short at this season of the year, night
came on, and the lighthouses blazed forth long before we
reached the roadstead of Yokohama, where steam-launches

term indifferently in this case. Yama,
Taka, and San or Zun are all applied
to mountains according to their posi-
tion or importance.

* “ The first view of the coast of
Japan which one obtains after five or
six days’ voyage from Hong Kong is
a very fair specimen of the coast
scenery in general. Hills of peculiarly
sharp outline, and which bear un-
mistakable signs of volcanic forma-
tion, send their rounded sjaurs out
seaward in such a way as to form
along the entire coast a series of small
bays, in some of the more protected
of which may be seen little nests
of grey huts, with their inevitable
accompaniment of single -masted
junks lying at anchor close in to the
shore. Every now and then a little
white sail will be seen skimming
along past the shore, the hull of the
vessel often being out of sight to
passengers on the mail steamers,
which naturally give the coast a wide
berth. At times the hills will fall
away enough to give you a glimpse
into the interior of the country, when
you see others, range beyond range,
of the same varied and picturesque
forms, increasing apparently in height
in proportion to their distance inland.
Wilh the exception of those nearest
to the coast, these hills appear pretty
thickly wooded, and even the barer

parts are overgrown with grass which
in the winter is of a deep straw
colour, the result of the scorching
sun of the preceding summer. This
scenery, varying slightly at times of
course, repeats itself continually as you
pass along towards the Gulf of Yedo.
Now and then the shore becomes
more rocky, and the surf forms a
broken line of white as far as the eye
can reach.

“ Islands occasionally loom up on
the seaward side, the last and finest
being that of ‘Vries,’ or ‘ Ooshima,’
an active volcano which continually
pours forth smoke and occasionally
flame. Soon after passing these
islands the Gulf of Yedo is reached
and the shores close in, the eastern
one keeping very low right up the
bay, the western one also being a
little less billy and more thickly
wooded than before.

“ The Gulf of Yedo is extremely
well supplied with lighthouses of
various kinds, by aid of which mail
steamers are able to proceed straight
to their moorings in Yokohama Bay,
at whatever time they arrive.

“E. Tenn Reed.”

This note, and some other notes
which follow bearing corresponding
initials, are from the pen of my son,
who accompanied me on my visit to
Japan.

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN.

were waiting to take ns to the shore if we had chosen to
land. But the hour was late, and we had previously de-
termined to remain on board for the night, and therefore
sent our compliments and apologies to the friends awaiting
us, not doubting that their convenience, like our own, would
thus be best secured.

Early on the morning of the 11th we went upon deck and
saw the pleasant town of Yokohama, with its long line of
European -looking buildings extending along the sea-front,
and its charming residences high up on “ The Bluff,” on our
left. In the roadstead or harbour were ships of all nations,
including British, American, and German men-of-war, with
the flag of Japan floating proudly from many a war-vessel,
one of which, the ironclad frigate Foo-so, I had myself had
the privilege to design and have built for his majesty the
emperor. After breakfast the steam-launches were again
alongside, and several young officers whom we had known in
England had come out in them to escort us to the port-
admiral’s landing-place, where we were most cordially re-
ceived by their excellencies Admiral Kawamura and Mr.
Enouye Kawori, the ministers of marine and of public works
respectively, both of whom we had had the pleasure of know-
ing in England. With them were Admiral Ito and several
naval and civil officers, some of whom we already knew, and
others whose acquaintance we then made for the first time,
as we did also that of Captain Hawes, an English officer
who had established and brought to a condition of great
excellence a corps of Japanese marines whose disbandment
subsequent events had brought about.*

Our first entertainment in Japan was at a small but
elegant little summer residence situated upon a hill over-
looking the bay, which formerly belonged to Mr. Enouye,

* 'J’o Capt. Hawes we were in- the preparation of a guidebook to
debted for many kindnesses during Japan, which will be of the utmost

our stay. I understand that, in con- service to visitors, and doubtless

junction with Mr. Ernest Sato w, this help to attract strangers to the
accomplished officer is engaged in Flowery Land.

B 2

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

but has of late years been employed as a temporary residence
for tbe Mikado on the occasions of bis visiting the fleet, or
making a sea passage to or from his capital. Although
built and provided in European style, the little palace bore
throughout its fittings, furniture, and decorations the unmis-
takable impress of the Japanese artist and handicraftsman.
The walls were hung with Japanese pictures, both ancient
and modern ; the curtains were of rich Japanese silk ; the
carpets and rugs of native manufacture ; the furniture of
woods and designs special to the country, while beautiful
specimens of inlaid lacquer-work, Satsuma and Kiyomidzu
faience, and screens of Kioto embroidered silk adorned the
several apartments. A luncheon of European type empha-
sised the welcome which had been given us, and assured us
of the cordial hospitality with which we were to he treated.
A brief visit to the club, the privileges of which were
secured for us by the kindness of Captain Hawes, occupied
the only time available before the departure of our train to
the eastern capital.*

* “An Englishman arriving in
Yokohama, looking at the town from
a ship in the bay, will have some
difficulty at first in discovering any
very novel feature in its appearance.
To the left on a hill he sees Euro-
pean houses in abundance; all along
the shore are large stone buildings,
hotels, store-houses, and clubs such
as may be seen in any seaport town
at home ; and with a score or two of
steamers of every kind in the fore-
ground, it is indeed hard to realise
that he is face to face with the land
of the Mikados. But this disappoint-
ment does not last long. He has but
to lift his eyes and look beyond, and
there, towering above all the nearer
hills, he sees Fuji-yama, the monster
snow-capped mountain which forms
a background for all the loveliest
scenes in Japan. Steamers, hotels,
and store-houses are forgotten in a
moment, and he becomes for the

time a Japanese, or at any rate a
worshipper of Fuji.

“ But now the boats which are to
take him ashore crowd round, and he
has to postpone further contemplation
to a more suitable opportunity. The
boatmen and boats are Japanese at
any rate. Tlie men are dressed in a
loose sort of robe with hanging sleeves.
They row with long sweeps tied to
the side of the boat, and worked in a
kindofscullingfashionwiththeblades
nearly under the stern of the boat.
On reaching the shore and having
passed through the ordeal of the
customs, a stranger finds himself in
the midst of a curiously mixed popu-
lation. Here he sees in the same
minute Englishmen, Americans,
Germans, Frenchmen, Chinamen, all
of them feeling apparently at home,
and seeming as if it was the most
natural thing in the world for each
of them to be there: the Japanese

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN.

Before proceeding with the narrative of our visit to Tokio
it may be well to pause sufficiently long to mention the
existing railway accommodation of Japan. There are but
three lines of railway yet constructed, viz. that upon which
we were about to travel from Yokohama to Tokio, a distance
of 18 miles ; a second, from the open port of Kobe to the
great commercial city of Osaka, which is 22 miles long;

and a third, from Osaka to the western capital of Kioto,
which is 26J miles in length. These last-named being con-
tinuous, may be considered as one line of 48^ miles, from

going their own way quite uncon-
cerned. As he moves farther into
the town, however, the purely
Japanese population appears in all
its novelty and picturesqueness ;

and from this point all we shall
see in Yokohama may be seen in
any town throughout the country.

“ E. T. R.”

JAPAN.

[cHAr. I.

Kobe to Kioto. Several other lines have been laid out, as
shown in the plan on the previous page, of which the parts
drawn in a continuous black line have been completely planned
and estimated for, the short piece from Kioto to Otsu being
already in hand and well advanced ; while the dotted lines
indicate a much more extensive system, which can scarcely be
said to have advanced much beyond the region of imagination,
although the general routes indicated have been more or less
examined and determined upon. While speaking of increased
communication with the plan before us, it may be well to men-
tion that it has been for centuries past the hope of thoughtful
Japanese that a canal would be cut from Tsuruga to the
northern extremity of Lake Biwa, for the purpose of admit-
ting shipping from the ocean into the lake, and thus carry-
ing sea-borne produce inland to Otsu, which is within nine
or ten miles of the western capital. The whole length of
projected railways above indicated is about 600 miles, of
which 143 have been completely planned and in part com-
menced, the remaining 457 miles being at present but little
more than talked of. The line from Yokohama to Tokio
was commenced in 1867, and opened for traffic in October
1872. There are large stations at the termini, and smaller
stations at several intermediate places. Extensive work-
shops exist at Tokio. It is said that the receipts for
passenger traffic alone on this line reach nearly £100 per
mile per week, and will therefore compare well with those
of first-class English railways. English and Scotch engine-
men and drivers are still employed upon the railway, but
the management of the traffic and the working of the
stations are conducted entirely by Japanese.

About five in the afternoon of the 11th we reached Tokio,
where a crowd awaited our arrival, attracted doubtless by
the circumstance that one of the carriages in waiting
belonged to the government, and bore among its decorations
the imperial crest. A few minutes’ drive, during which we
could not but be struck by the characteristic features alike
of the city and of the people, brought us to the residence of
Admiral Kawamura, where we found ourselves delightfulJy

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN.

located in the midst of a purely Japanese household, hut
with an adjoining building of European style, newly erected
for the use of foreign visitors, and furnished with the
choicest art-furnishings of Japan, as in the case of the little
Yokohama palace already adverted to.

In place of giving my own general impressions resulting
from our first views of this extraordinary country and people,
I will take the following from the memoranda jotted down by
my son— in whose youth (his age being but nineteen) the
friendly reader will find sufficient excuse for any literary
crudeness that he may detect : —

“ Among the first things we see on entering a Japanese
town is a line oi jinrihi-slia men, with their hand-carriages,
w^aiting for a job. The shafts of the two-wheeled carriages
are resting on the ground, and their proprietors are standing
by, or sitting on the now sloping seat. Their dress consists
in most cases (in this winter time) of a pale-blue shirt with
hanging sleeves tucked in at the waist, and tight-fitting
breeches of the same colour, reaching just below the knee.
Legs and feet are bare, with the exception of straw sandals
fastened on by means of straw cords, one passing round the
ankle and another between the toes. They are most of
them holding their rough scarlet rugs round their necks and
shoulders, but as soon as they get a job the rug will be
transferred to the knees of the fare.

“ But let us look for a moment at the dresses of the
passers-by. Here comes a young man, probably an assistant
in a shop. His dress consists of a thick-striped silk robe
reaching down to the ankles, or nearly so. The colour of this
is a quiet grey, with narrow mauve or black stripes in it. It
crosses on his breast, and inside it shows an under-garment
crossing in the same way, made of a different shade of grey
from the other. The outer dress is fastened at the crossing
with a thick cord of cream-coloured silk. He wears white
socks, which only reach to the ankle, and which separate
between the big toe and the rest of the foot, so as to allow
the strap of his clogs to pass between. These clogs consist
of a flat sole of wood about half an inch thick, wffiich rests on

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

two broad wooden uprights at toe and heel. A straw cord
comes up between the big toe and the next one, and separates
into two parts, which join the clog halfway along. As there
is no fastening at the back, a continual drag has to be kept on
the clog or it would fall off, the result of which is that very
shambling gait which is one of the peculiarities noticed in
walking through a Japanese town. This young man, like
most others now, has allowed his hair to grow all over his
head in European fashion.

“ But before going further we must notice the arrangement
of the hair which is peculiar to the Japanese men. The head

HAIR OF LABOURER.

is shaved, from the forehead to a little behind the crown.
The hair is grown at the sides and back, then a kind of
short pigtail is made of the upper part of the back-hair,
which is stuck together with cosmetic, doubled, and the
point brought partly over the shaved part of the head, as
in the engraving above. This practice is fast dying out,
though, and even now is almost confined to the working
classes.

“ Let us now take a glance at a shop or two, and see in
what they differ from those we are accustomed to. Here on
our right we see a low built wooden house. We go inside the
door; the proprietor is sitting on his heels on the floor, which

CHAP. I.]

OUn ARBIVAL IN JAPAN.

is raised about a foot and a half above the ground, and is
smoothly covered with clean matting. He has his bronze
hibashi, or brazier, before him. One arm is resting on it,
while one hand is sj^read over the fire of red-hot ashes. In
his other hand is his small silver pipe, with its diminutive bowl.
The moment we enter he taps the ashes out of this pipe into
the hibashi, and makes his reverence with his forehead on the
ground. If we wish to purchase anything, a certain amount of
preliminary incredulity and subsequent beating down is often
necessary here as in most other places in the East. He asks
us to be seated, and pushes some flat cushions to the edge of
the floor so as to enable us to keep our feet on the ground,
and thus avoid taking off our boots, which would be necessary
if we were to mount on to his floor. He calls to some one
in the back room of the house, which is shut off' by a paper
partition with wooden framework, and in a few minutes a boy
appears with tea, which we are invited to take while we look
over some of his stock. After making a few purchases and
drinking the tea, with which the cups are continually re-
plenished, we wish him good-day, and leave him repeating
his obeisance, and producing that remarkable sound which is
so common in Japan, of sucking in the breath between the
teeth and lips, and terminating in a noise made with the
throat, which is rather suggestive of asthma. These sounds
almost always accompany a bow either on meeting or leaving
a person. Passing on, every shop is a picture, even though
it be for the sale of casks or wine-bottles. The clean white
ribs of the cask held together by rings of green willow ; the
masses of common blue and white china sake bottles, shelf
above shelf, and layer above layer, are pleasing to the eye,
and so help in their way to increase that fascination with
the country which every foreigner feels after a short stay
in Japan, and which is of course contributed to by every
evidence of taste and artistic sense in the Japanese in things
however trifling and unimportant.

“ But what is that curious structure at the end of the
street ? Well, it does look curious at first, but before many
days have passed it will seem as familiar as a church-spire at

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

home. It is the sign that you are approaching a Shinto
temple, and if you look beyond you will see nestled among
the trees the steep thatched roof of the temple itself, which
is entered by a flight of steps, at the foot of which may be
seen a little group of devotees making their obeisances before
the shrine. Even at this distance, if we look carefully into
the shadow cast by the overhanging roof, we can see the
glimmer of the round mirror which appears to be one of the
symbols of the Shinto faith.

“ As we draw nearer we find that the archway we have
noticed consists of two large upright posts some two and a
half feet in diameter, across the tops of which is laid a beam,
projecting over them and curving slightly upward. A few
inches below this is a second and smaller beam, parallel to it,
and which hears a framed board on which is inscribed in
Japanese characters the name of the temple. The whole
structure is painted a bright red,t and is altogether about
fifteen or eighteen feet high. We can now distinctly see
the mirror in the centre of the temple, surrounded by those
wands with curiously cut tassels of white paper which are
called gohei, and which are seen in every Shinto temple. The
original idea of them might have been that of a duster, as it
is the custom of the priests to make two or three passes
with them in the air before praying, apparently for the pur-
pose of clearing the atmosphere from any impurities before
invoking the god. Here, too, are the worshippers, some
kneeling, some standing at the foot of the steps. Let us
watch this new-comer for a moment. He walks to the foot
of the steps, throws a coin on to them, and stands for some
seconds gazing into the temple, then raises his hands and
claps them sharply three times. He then places them together
and bends his head, muttering a short prayer. After another -
prolonged gaze at the sacred mirror and its surroundings,

*“ The mirror, we afterwards found, Ernest Satow. *‘E. T. K.”

although a sacred Shinto emblem, f “ This painting of the <om appears
was not displayed in early Shinto ako to be traceable to Buddhism, but

temples. Its public use came in it is not at all unfrequent now.
with Buddhism, according to Mr. “ E. T. R.”

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN

he moves off to make room for other equally devout wor-
shippers, who present their offerings, go through the same
ceremony, and in their turn make way for others, and so on.
The clapping of the hands is only saved from appearing
ridiculous to foreigners by the thoroughly reverent and
earnest looks of the worshippers. The object of this, we are
told, is to attract the attention of the Ji'ami, or god, to the
prayers which are to follow. As we turn to leave we take a
final glance at the temple, and notice for the first time
that the richly coloured chickens amongst the carving under
the roof are moving their heads and wings in a decidedly
natural manner. We are told to our astonishment that these
birds are sacred, and so are allowed to take their roost on
the very temple itself ; but we have no doubt that were
we to scatter a little food on the ground, their strictly reli-
gious proclivities would be, at any rate for the time,
overcome, and that they would show themselves worldly
enough to give way to temptation, and leave their exalted
perch.

“ Near the torii, or archway, we meet two men in curious-
looking dresses, whom we discover to be priests of the temple.
One is dressed in flowing white robes, with baggy sleeves,
the ordinary socks and clogs, and wears a stiff headdress of
linen or silk, somewhat resembling a peaked nightcap doubled
backwards with the peak hanging down. The other wears
richer-looking robes, made apparently of brocaded silk, but
of the same shape as the first ; his headdress is quite dif-
ferent, however, consisting of a lacquered black hat, the
shape of which is roughly rectangular, but has a deep dent
in the front, and is crinkled all over. It is about four inches
high, and projects beyond the head at the back with a slight
curve upwards. They make a polite bow as we pass, and
wish us good-day. We are told that the first is an ordinary
Shinto priest, while the second is the chief priest of the
temple.

“ Just after leaving the temple we meet an object which
looks like a very large, cabinet of some sort with legs and
feet taking a quiet stroll through the town. On nearer

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

approach this resolves itself into two tall narrow boxes,
through which, about three fourths of the way up, passes
a stout bar of wood, which rests on the shoulder of the
man to whom the legs belong. At first this appears an
enormous load for one man to carry, hut on closer examina-
tion we find that it is merely a framework of light wood
barely strong enough to support its contents. If we watch
this man for a few moments he will probably very soon find
a suitable place for depositing his shop, for such it is ; when
we shall see the two boxes quickly opened and converted
into stands on which to place his wares.

“ But we must continue our walk, for there is much to
see and wonder at. Every few hundred yards we pass one
of the best results of the introduction of European customs
in the form of a neatly dressed and business-like policeman.
His uniform consists of a dark-blue coat reaching below
the knees, with collar and cujffs of bright yellow cloth. He
wears a white belt, and a peaked cap with a yellow band
and a silver badge in front. Under his arm he carries an
ominously thick stick some four feet long, which gives
to the mildest and most harmless-looking policeman that
appearance of latent power which is so necessary to their
profession.

“ Most of the people we pass now are of the lower classes,
as we are approaching the poorer quarter of the town. The
men are mostly dressed in a short sort of cloak of dark blue
material with hanging sleeves, which is open down the front.
The lower part of this is ornamented with a white pattern,
often resembling the Greek key. On the back is a large
Japanese character surrounded by a white ring. This is
generally the emblem or sign adopted by their employer.
Under this cloak an inner garment of darker material is
worn, the thickness of this varying according to the time of
year. They wear tight-fitting trousers of dark blue. They
go generally with the head bare, but sometimes wear a light-
blue figured handkerchief tied under the chin. While walking
along between the low wooden houses with their heavily tiled
roofs, we have abundant opportunities of seeing every phase

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN.

of domestic life. Here we see a party of little cliilclren
with their bright dresses of imitation crape (cliirimen), and
their little heads clean shaved with the exception of four
little tufts, one in front, one behind, and one at each side.
Some are flying kites made in the shape of diminutive men
with outspread arms, while the smaller ones are confining
their attention to the perilous occupation of climbing down
from the raised floor of the houses to the road, and there
making their first attempts at walking in clogs ; and as they
always secure the biggest ones at hand, their endeavours are
often extremely amusing. The moment a jinrihi-sha is
seen approaching, the children immediately show a strong
desire to he on the opposite side of the road, the result of
this generally being a series of narrow escapes, which would
in many cases he bad accidents were it not that the jinrika-
sha is so quickly swerved aside or stopped.

“ In passing a side street we are struck by the doleful
notes of some instrument, which is evidently approaching us
by the increasing clearness of the sound. We will stay a
moment and find out whence it comes. In a few moments a
figure appears, which halts every now and then, and each
time the sound we first heard is repeated, and is follow’ed by
a low droning cry. As it gets nearer we find it is a blind
man, who feels his way with a stick and carries a reed-pipe.
On inquiry we learn that this man’s profession is that of a
shampooer. The system of shampooing has become quite an
institution in Japan. Any one suffering from rheumatism or
any pain which rubbing would relieve calls in one of these
men, who are continually passing, and undergoes a course of
kneading and hammering and pinching in the part affected,
or all over the body if he wishes it. The few notes on the
pipe and the low cry of “ amma ” (great stress being laid on
the m’s, which causes the peculiar droning sound) combine to
form one of the most plaintive street cries imaginable. Our
curiosity being satisfied we pass on, and in a few minutes
find ourselves approaching the open country. Here on the
roadside is a square stone column about six feet high, on
which is carved in Japanese characters the name of the

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

town we are leaving, and probably also that of the Ken, or
prefecture.

“We will now take a glance at scenery of a type which
is common to most parts of Japan. The road runs on an
embankment, some five or six feet high, between rice- (or
paddy-) fields, w^hich are almost invariably under two or three
inches of water, and which cover all the level ground. Be-
yond these rise hills of marked outline, but of no great
height, up which the rice-fields climb terrace above terrace
until there is not a square foot of available ground un-
occupied. At intervals we pass clusters of wooden huts,
apparently deserted ; but if we look carefully over the sur-
rounding fields, we shall probably see the owners with their
wives and children, with wicker baskets in their arms, up to
their knees in mud and water. They are evidently working
hard, but Tvhat the exact nature of their work is it is difficult
to see. Jinrihi-shas occasionally pass us on the road, their
occupants being often asleep, and remaining so with a
determination which is truly remarkable, considering the
faulty nature of the road. Occasionally the monotony of the
fields is broken by a bamboo-forest, over which the faintest
breath of wind sends a wavy sheen as it reveals the silvery
under-side of the leaves. Now and then the road is bordered
on either side by those lofty pines of distorted shape which
are so often represented in Japanese art. They twist and
turn and stretch out their crooked arms in every direction,
at times joining hands with their comrades on the opposite
side of the road, as if taking part in some weird, fantastic
dance, which is only interrupted for the moment to allow
us to pass.

“ Gradually the wooden huts become more frequent, and
at last become almost continuous, developing finally into a
long straggling town of one street. As we get farther into
it, the huts improve gradually in size and style, until the
middle portion of the town consists of a series of well-to-do-
looking shops. Here we see the one European house,
w^hich w^e now recognise immediately as the police-station.
Opposite this is the principal ehaya, or tea-house, which

CHAP. I.]

OUB ABIUVAL IN JAPAN.

corresponds to an inn in Europe. The raised lower floor
seems one vast expanse of matting, stretching far hack from
the street. We stop here for some tea, while o\xy jinriki-shas
are changed and a relay of men is obtained. We are
welcomed by the girl-attendants of the place, who bow low
and conduct us to a back room, where we ensconce ourselves
• on the floor round the hihashis, or ash fires. The girls
then bring us tea, in the diminutive cups peculiar to the
country, and sit down to watch for an opportunity to
replenish them, endeavouring meanwhile to tempt us to
taste some of the curious, and at first uninviting, cakes
which usually accompany the Japanese tea, and the most
common form of which resembles square blocks of ‘ Turkish
delight.’ Meanwhile the jinriki-slia men are making the
most of their time outside. Each man has his bowl of rice
in hand, and is transferring its contents as fast as possible
to his mouth by means of chopsticks. The bowl is held
close up to the mouth, so that the process is simple and the
transfer rapid, d’his rice, with the addition of a cup or two
of sal'e (the spirituous drink of the country), will fit him
for several hours of steady running over any country you
please. We are soon in ouv jinriki-sha and off again. The
inhabitants come out to their doors and often form up in
the streets to see the ijin-sang (foreigners) go past. Each
tries to get a good view as we drive through, and we
see youthful messengers sent off in all directions to bring
absent relations, in order that no one may miss the extra-
- ordinary sight of a pale-faced man riding in a jinrihi-sha ;
for even now the sight appears to be a novel one in most
parts of Japan.

“ Leaving the town, we pass on through scenery which
varies in picturesqueness in proportion to the nearness or
distance of the hill country. At times the road crosses
swiftly-flowing streams. In them we may sometimes notice
a system of breakwaters or groins much used in Japan. In
places where the bank is soft and is exposed to the swirl
and rush of the river, you may see a series of these, formed
of large stones or flints inclosed in wicker baskets, which

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

are by no means unsightly, and yet most effectual in their
operation. Shinto temples are passed every now and then,
hut as we have visited one already we will confine ourselves
to taking a peep at a typical Buddhist temple. In the place
of the tor a of the Shinto temple, we here pass through a
kind of monster lych-gate with a huge overhanging roof
built of small pieces of bark, immediately below which the
wood is profusely carved after the fashion of Chinese
buildings. The central part of this building is taken up by
the gateway itself, but on either side of this stand the
colossal demons which guard so many temples in Japan.
To say that they are absolutely hideous would be decided
flattery. One is red, the other green ; they both are in
striking, ferocious attitudes, and their faces are distorted
with demoniac fury. They are immensely muscular, and
altogether seem hardly an inviting pair to put at the
entrance to a place of worship. It is reassuring to notice,
however, that a thick wire netting is fixed between us and
these unpleasant champions of religion. This netting is,
we find, more for their protection than ours, as it is to
prevent the too easy exercise of a form of religion entirely
new to us, which consists of ejecting from the mouth small
pellets of well-damped paper at the bodies of these gaily
painted fiends. If the pellet sticks on the figure the marks-
man is in favour with the gods, and is likely to fare well in
the future ; but if it refuses to stick, it is a sign that either
his principles or his practices are at fault, and need careful
consideration.

“ Passing through by the paved way, we find ourselves
before a building resembling in its general features the
temple of the other religion, but we have only to glance
into the interior to discover that there is a marked difference.
In the place of the simple mirror and paper gohei of the
Shinto temple, we here find a glittering image of Buddha,
encased in a shrine no less brilliant than the god himself ;
on right and left shine attendant deities, who, in their
gilded brightness, stand out from the sombre shadow cast
by the temple roof. Here, too, we find the lotus in profu-

CHAP. I.]

OUR ARRIVAL IN JAPAN.

sion, a beautiful emblem of the Buddhist faith. Lacquered
rails inclose a large space around the shrine, which is
unapproachable to any but the priests, who sit, or rather
kneel, on right and left, with their quaint robes and shaven
heads. Worshippers come and go. They kneel before the
rails, pray, and retire, but the priests take no notice
whatever, as they are simply in attendance on the shrine.
Here, also, small coin are thrown as offerings to the god,
just as they were in the Shinto temple. Beyond the shrine
on both sides there hang portraits of the founder of the
temple, and other ecclesiastics who have had some connection
with it at some time or another, and round behind the
shrine we shall probably find many old relics associated in
some way with the past history of the place. Temples, of
course, vary like everything else, but the differences are
only minor ones, so that every Buddhist temple in the
country preserves that element of gaudiness and decoration
which contrasts so strongly with the plain and unpreten-
tious style of the Shinto temples.

“ In passing on through the country one is struck by
the scarcity of birds and animals. Hawks and eagles are,
perhaps, the most frequently seen, and crows also are fairly
numerous ; but with the exception of these, the Howls of the
air ’ are but poorly represented. Cranes are to be seen, but
they are not nearly so common as one would expect, con-
sidering the part they play in Japanese art of all kinds.
Wild ducks and wild geese are much more abundant,
especially in the castle moats, where the shooting of them is
prohibited. Domestic animals are scarce, and are but poor
specimens when one does see them. The dogs are either
of a type closely resembling the Constantinople “ pariah,”
brethren both in appearance and habits, or else they are
those balls of fluffy hair with little pug-noses which are
known in England as Japanese dogs. The cats are shorn
of their tails, and it is probably owing to this that their
bashfulness keeps them almost always out of sight. The
Japanese horse is small and shaggy. His mane stands on
end, and his tail is rough and long. His legs and body

VOL. II. c

JAPAN.

[chap. I.

are well built for the uses be is usually put to, but as a
riding horse his general appearance could hardly be termed
elegant. In some parts of Japan, on the Tokaido, for instance,
one may already pass occasionally a thoroughly European
excursion van drawn by one or two horses, and filled with
country people, who look perfectly at home in what they, a
few years ago, regarded as a barbarous monstrosity.”

RINTO, OH DRAGON LANTERN, KOEUKUJl.

( 19 )

CHAPTER II.

A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL.-

(All- courteous icccptioii there — Imperial princes and princesses — Ministers
of state — The prime minister Sanjo — The founding of Tokio (Yedo) —
The castle — Splendid temples — Wooyeiio Park — European buildings —
Native shops — The metropolitan temple of Asakusa — The Nio, or
giant gate-keepers — The remedial idol, Binzuru — Curious modes of
worship — A praying-wheel — Japanese lacquer and bronze — Devoted
woi’kmen — Early lacquer-work — Decline and revival of the manufacture
— The processes employed — Early and modern bronzes — Modes of pro-
duction— Exact reproductions avoided — Art-work — Coloured pictures
in metal — Eepousse work — An unequalled work of art — The paper-
mills of Oji — Paper-manufacture — Multiplied uses of paper — The
government and administration of Tokio — An official statistical account.

Our first month in Japan was spent in the city of Tokio
and its vicinity. The courtesy shown us was from the
beginning very great, most of the ministers and principal
officials taking an early opportunity of calling, and welcoming
us to their hospitable land. One of the members of the
government. General Kuroda, who was absent in the distant
northern island of Yezo, the government of which is part
of his duty as colonial minister, telegraphed a friendly
message, and invited us, notwithstanding his absence, to
visit his department in the capital, following up our visit
there by presents of sea-otter skins from the Kurile Islands,
and other specimens of the products of the northern provinces
of Japan. The other heads of state departments acted with
similar promptness, and gave us invitations, many of which
we were unable to accept until after our return from our
visit to the interior.

An early opportunity was afforded us of making the

c 2

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

personal acquaintance of the leading personages of the
country, under the more festive circumstances of a dinner
party, held at the house of Admiral Kawamura. On this
occasion there were present, besides our host and hostess,
their imperial highnesses the Prince and Princess Arisugawa,
who occupy the stations nearest to the throne. To the
services of the prince in the suppression of the Satsuma
rebellion, and the distinctions conferred upon him by the
emperor at its conclusion, I have already referred. There
were also present the imperial Prince and Princess Higashi
Fushimi, who come next in nearness to the emperor. The
party likewise comprised the prime minister, Sanjo ; the vice
minister, Iwakura ; Mr. Okuma, the minister of finance ; Mr.
Terashima, the foreign minister, and his wife ; Mr. Ito, the
home minister ; General Saigo, minister at war ; Mr. Enouye,
minister of public works, with his wife and adopted
daughter; Mr. Oki, the minister of justice; General
Yamagata, the commander-in-chief of the army ; and
several other ladies and gentlemen. The dinner was served
in European fashion, but with several pretty accompaniments
unknown at home, among which may be mentioned the
serving of a pie out of which, when presented to me, there
fiew a number of small birds with written sentiments of
welcome attached to their legs. All the gentlemen on the
occasion wore European dress, but most of the ladies were in
the picturesque native costume, some of them having the
teeth blackened and the eyebrows shaved off, with artificial
indications of others in colour higher up, after the ancient
style of the country. The two princesses were not so
adorned, or dis-adorned, as the case may be, but were dressed
in robes of scarlet (the imperial colour), and had their hair
wrought, so to speak, halo-fashion, as shown in the portraits
of the empress. This mode of dressing the hair is ma-
terially different from that common among Japanese ladies,
and appears to be special to members of the Mikado’s family.
I am afraid that neither my son nor myself were at all
worthy of our privileges on this occasion, as neither of us
could address a word in their own language to either of the

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 21

imperial and noble ladies between whom we respectively
had the honour to sit. The course of the dinner, however
(served in a manner wholly unknown, apparently, to the
ladies of the court), furnished opportunities, we may hope,
for those little attentions which are often quite as pleasant,
and far more useful, than any words. At the conclusion of
the dinner, after toasting the Emperor and our Queen, his
excellency the prime minister proposed the health of the
guest, doing me the honour to make the most gratifying
references to the ships which had been constructed for the
imperial government under my care, and intimating that it
was the wish of his majesty the emperor, no less than that
of himself and his colleagues in the government, that my
son and I should be made heartily welcome to Japan, and have
the fullest opportunities afforded us of seeing, without veil
or hindrance, anything and everything that might be of in-
terest to us — a wish that was most courteously and completely
carried out, doubtless as a compliment to our country, and to
the parliament of which I was a member, much more than to
ourselves alone. After what has been recounted in former
chapters, I need not say that the princes and ministers who
attended this banquet were men of the most representative
character, and were in large part the authors as well as
the witnesses of the immense changes that have passed over
Japan. We have seen the parts they played, and it is
unnecessary further to advert to them here.

The city of Tokio, now the eastern capital of the country,
was founded, as we have seen, nearly three centuries ago by
lyeyasu, the founder likewise of the quasi -royal dynasty of
the Tokugawa Shoguns, more commonly known, perhaps, as
the Tycoons (or Tai-Kuns) of Japan. Its great feature was,
and still is, its castle, the word being here employed in
its comprehensive sense, inclusive of all the grounds and

* “ Tai-Kun ” was au unauthorised and the term was employed in trans-
title sometimes assumed by the actions with foreigners of late years.

Shoguns, signifying great or exalted Under the form “ Tycoon ” it lias

ruler. The Shogun lycmitsu of- often been used, but Shogun is the

iieially (but unlawfully) employed it, proper and authorised designation.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

buildings comprised within its outer moats. The origin of
this castle was noted in the chapter on lyeyasu ; it grew
from time to time, until at length it had no less than eight-
and-forty gates. The moat winds in a sort of huge distorted
spiral round the centre, in approaching which from any
direction the water would have to he crossed (were that prac-
ticable) at least twice, and often, according to the direction
of approach, four times. The outermost limb of the water
spiral, so to speak, is formed by the lower part of the
largest of the rivers. The principal palaces have been
destroyed by fires occurring at different times, and at
present none but garden houses and other minor buildings
exist in the interior, or what may be called the imperial
parts of the castle inclosure.

x\nother feature of the modern capital, Tokio, is the great
temple district of Shiba, near to which Admiral Kawamura,
with whom we stayed, resides, and through which we often
had occasion to drive. It is a beautiful spot, in large jmrt
adorned with fine old trees, and here and there rising into
wooded slopes and hills. Within its picturesque inclosures
are the splendid tomb-temples of the Tokugawas — those of
them which remain, fire having devoured the finest of them.
These groves of Shiba were once secluded and sacred ; they
are now largely opened up to public traffic and utility.
Some regret the change, others glory in it. The shrines
that remain are striking examples of ecclesiastical art and
decoration as applied in Buddhist temples under the patronage
of the rich and powerful. Another beautiful spot of like
associations, but made far less beautiful than aforetime by
both battle and fire, is Wooyeno, or Uyeno, on the opposite
side of the city. I have elsewhere mentioned the struggle
that occurred there after the recent imperial restoration ;
suffice it here to say that its elevated grounds furnish a
beautiful prospect over the widespread city; that the old and
the new there exist side by side in strange contrast, an old
colossal image of Buddha, with its lanterns and other sacred
accessories, looking down upon the entrance to a modern
restaurant, where travellers, Japanese and foreigners.

CHAP. TT.] A MOyrn IN THE EASTEEN CAPITAL

refresh themselves in European fashion in a way (as we
more than once had opportunities of experiencing) not
unworthy, say, of the Cafe Cascade in the Bois. In the
springtime, when the cherry and the plum break into
blossom, the heights and groves and temple paths of Woo-
yeno, peopled with the picturesque and happy Japanese,
form quite a paradise. There are Tokugawa temples here
too, bright but now neglected memorials of a family which
the exigencies of the period have made it necessary to
repress, but which, as I think, when the story of Japan
comes to be written a century or two hence, will take a
high place among those who gave peace to the land, and
encouraged the pursuit of those arts and studies which are
the allies of innocence and healthful pleasures.*

Although Tokio is in the main still a Japanese city,
exhibiting everywhere the life, the customs, and the costumes
of the Japanese people, it bears many manifest and obtrusive
evidences of European interposition. The railway, with its
European station and equipments, is the first great contrast
with the native architecture and appliances which strikes
one. Not far from it is the foreign settlement, where many
of the houses are of European type; and in looking over
the city from an eminence, one sees bank buildings, schools,
and occasional residences of foreign pattern rising up above
the less elevated Japanese buildings — less elevated save as
regards the temples alone, which here and there stand up
high above all other Japanese constructions. Most of the
great educational establishments, such as the University, the
College of Engineering, the Military College, and the Naval
College, are of European style ; as are also some of the
barracks, and likewise some of the manufacturing establish-
ments. In fact, buildings of this style, with which alone

* In saying this I am not nn- son with that of the Ashikagas,

mindful of tlie many evils of the which went before it — and history

Tokugawa rule, or regretful because will in part so judge it — it well
it has passed away. Judging it by merits the favourable recognition of
our European standards, it was bad impartial persons,
enough ; but judging it by compari-

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

we are familiar at home, but which were perfectly unknown
in Tokio a few years ago, are now very frequent and
conspicuous objects in the bird’s-eye view of the city.

The business streets and the shops of Tokio are, with few
or no exceptions, purely Japanese, the number of foreign
residents being so few in proportion to the million of its
inhabitants as in no degree to interfere with the native
aspect of the place as one walks or drives along its thorough-
fares. The interest felt as we move about among the people,
looking into the stores and places of business, never flags.
Such is the native taste for artistic forms and groupings
of objects, that even the commonest shops first arrest the eye
with masses of brightness and colour, and then amuse the
mind with curious and fanciful details. An ordinary
Japanese china shop is as entertaining an “ arrangement
in blue and white ” as one of the cabinets of Governor Pope
Hennessy at Hong Kong, or of Sir Henry Thompson in
Wimpole Street. And the leisurely shopkeepers, male or
female, or both, inhaling frequent whiffs of tobacco with
philosophic calmness, and yet always alert, and always
courteous to the visitor, add to the pleasing attractiveness
of the place, contrasting with the eager money-grasping
habits that one gets too much accustomed to in other lands.

One of our earliest visits of inspection in Tokio was to
the temple of Asakusa, a notable place of its kind, and full
of interest to the stranger. It may be regarded as the
principal Buddhist temple of Tokio, and is dedicated to
Kwannon, sometimes god and sometimes goddess, to whose
Indian origin, multiplied incarnations, and Japanese popu-
larity I have elsewhere adverted. Asakusa was once an
outlying village near Yedo ; the city of Tokio may now be
said not only to embrace it, but to have endowed it with an
essentially metropolitan character. It is in many senses
the most popular and frequented temple in the capital, and
attracts crowds continually to its shrines, and larger crowds
more continually to its precincts. But let no one imagine
for a moment that the attractions of this temple bear any
sort of relation to the attractions which draw the crowd

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 25

either to the Abbey of Westminster or to the Surrey
Tabernacle or to the Pro-Cathedral of Kensington. Dif-
ferent as are the influences which invite our people to these
churches respectively, and to those of which these are
types, and to the many other churches which attract by
forces existing in none of these, the Buddhist temples of
Japan are entirely out of relation to all of them. Nor,
so far as one can see, are they in any more relation to the
animating principles of the faith on which they are founded.
There is but little indeed in the thronged Asakusa to
remind one of the “ grey-haired saint ” Asita, whose ears,

‘'Long closed to earthly things, caught heavenly sounds,

And heard at prayer beneath his peepul-tree
The Devas singing songs at Buddha’s birth.”

And quite as little is there to remind one of the after
musings of “ Lord Buddha ” himself, when in sylvan soli-
tudes he forgot himself in

“ The woes of men.

The ways of fate, the doctrines of the books.

The lessons of the creatures of the brake.

The secrets of the silence wdience all comes.

The secrets of the gloom whereto all go.

The life which lies between, like that arch flung
From cloud to cloud across the sky, which hath
Mists for its masonry and vapoury piers.

Melting to void again which was so fair
With sapphire hues, garnet, and chrysoprase.” *

The attractions of Asakusa are those of a fair rather
than those of a temple. The approach is by a long stone-
paved avenue of shops and stalls, and the sides and back
of the temple are surrounded by tea-houses, waxwork ex-
hibitions, archery rooms, monkey shows, and other enter-
tainments. In the immediate neighbourhood singing girls
make merry the hearts of citizens and pilgrims, filling
their ears with joyous music, and their eyes with dancing
pictures. “ There is nothing strange to the Japanese mind

* For these and the lines immediately preceding, see Edwin Arnold’s
‘ Light of Asia.’

JAPAN.

[chap. it.

in this association of temples and toy-shops. The good
bonzes in their sermons declare, as the result of their
exegesis and meditations, that husbands are bound to love
their wives, and show it by allowing them plenty of pin-
money and hair-pins, and to be not bitter against them
by denying them neat dresses and handsome girdles. The
farmer who comes to town with his daughter turns from
prayer to the purchase of pomatum or a mirror ” (Griffis).

Before the temple of Asakusa stands, as is usual with
the Buddhist temples of Japan, the gateway (Niomon), in
this case a huge construction, within which, one on either
side, scowl the grim giant gatekeepers (Nio), carved and
coloured with cruel art into triumphs of the hideous and
the demoniacal. One, coloured red, is said to represent the
Yo or male principle of the Chinese philosophy ; the other,
coloured green, is said to represent the female principle.*
The temple itself swarms with gods and shrines and
emblems and votive gifts, and is a very busy place indeed.
A large bronze censer fronts you as you enter, surmounted
by a rampant animal that seems in strange contrast with
what one would fain conceive of as the sacredness of the
place. Before the high-altar is a huge box or coffer to
receive the money gifts of the people. The altar itself
is screened with an open fabric of wire. The methods
of worship are various. Besides the bowing and the
rubbing of the hands which compose one method, and
the use of strings of beads like those employed by Eoman

* “ Ni-wo-son (Two Honoured
Kings), the guardians of the right and
left. These are always placed under
the gateway, as may be seen at
Asakusa, and formerly at Shiba.
The most celebrated are at Shiba-
yama-mura, in Kadzusa. The idols
are erect figures with flowing robes ;
that on the light, facing the temple,
is red, has its mouth open, and re-
presents the Yo or male principle of
Chinese philosophy. That on the
left is green ; the mouth is firmly

closed, indicative of silence, the fe-
male In principle. Small prints of
these, pasted on the beams over the
entrances of houses, protect them
from burglars and thieves. Tra-
vellers on foot present large straw
sandals, and hang them at these
places. They also burn sen ho (in-
cense), and pray for pedestrian
strength to perform their journey.”
— rfoundcs, ‘ Fu so Mimi Bukuro.’ —
See engraving facing p. 02, vol. i.

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EA8TEBN CAPITAL.

Catholics which form another, there are two equally ^0urious,
but obviously of very unequal efficiency. Of these the
first — which is addressed to a god of moderate size and
accessible position, and which appears only applicable to
bodily ailments or imperfections — consists in rubbing that
part of the body of the idol which corresponds with the
defective limb or organ of the devotee, and then rubbing
that limb or organ itself with corresponding energy.
“Idols may he seen, well worn by devotees rubbing the
figure and then the corresponding portions of their own
bodies ; this god is called Binzuru Senja, and represents
the servant of the disciples of Shaka (Buddha), noted for
his energy and untiring perseverance in attending to his
duties ” (Pfoundes). Binzuru of Asakusa is a well-worn
idol, undergoing slow but very certain mutilation. The
features of his face are sadly reduced, not to say gone,
and his original comeliness of form, which may still he
inferred from what is left of him, has already disappeared.
Nor is this to he wondered at considering the energy with
which he is sometimes worshipped. On one occasion I
observed a woman, who scarcely seemed to need much
physical improvement judging from her outward figure,
vigorously extracting virtue from many parts of the sub-
missive image, and as zealously applying it, so that it
was difficult to discover if she had any soundness whatever
to let alone. I am inclined to believe that this lady was
too religious in her way, not to say fanatical, for all the
healing and active powers of poor Binzuru failed to satisfy
her, and she went from god to god, and from shrine to
shrine, with a steadiness and impartiality of devotion that
were most unusual. Like some other devotees that one
has known, however, while extracting all the blessings
and benefits that her faith could secure for her, she shied
(if I may so speak) at the sight of the coffers, and gave
nothing in the way of financial aid to the temple of her
choice. This conduct on her part is the more remarkable
as she gave no indication of having come in any degree
under the “ civilising ” influences now at work in the

JAPAN.

[chap. tt.

country; and selfishness does not seem to be a natural
characteristic of the Japanese people.

The other peculiar form
of worship to which I have
adverted, and which flour-
ishes in this and in similar
temples, consists in chew-
ing pellets of paper and
‘‘ shying ” them at the idol.
If they stick, the fact is
taken as a sign that the
prayer is heard ; if they
fall off, it is a sign that it
is not heard. The Buddhist
gods are often elaborately
decorated with these em-
blems of piety, and it is
reasonable, perhaps, to infer
that the more there are of
them the greater is the
beneficence of the god.

This may he the proper
place for referring to yet
a third mode of worship,
which is to he found in
Japan as well as in India,
and which consists in pray-
ing by machinery. I did
not observe a praying-
machine within the temple
of Asakusa, but there is
one outside of it. It is
neither more nor less than
PRAYING-WHEEL ^ wlieel mounted in a stone

post. An account of a similar wheel at Hakodadi is
given with a sketch* in the official record of Commodore

* From wbicli the eiigraviiig 'which I give is roughly taken.

CHAP. II.]

A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 29

Perry’s American Expedition to Japan. It consisted of a
tall post, having an iron wheel inserted in a mortice upon an
axle. The wheel had three spokes, with two loose iron rings
upon each. The jingle of these rings calls the attention of
the god when the passer-hy turns the wheel. Every one
who turns the wheel is supposed to obtain credit for prayers
proportioned to the number of the wheel’s revolutions.
The four sides of the post are covered with Buddhistic
inscriptions, of which the compiler of the record referred
to gives the translations which I repeat in a footnote.*
The compiler also refers to the praying-mills of Thibet,
to some of which water-power has been applied, and
suggests to the Japanese the desirability of improving
upon this by employing steam-power for the purpose —
a suggestion which the modern Japanese will know how
to estimate at its just value, let us hope.

Other forms of devotion common in this temple and
throughout Japan are those of writing prayers on slips
of paper and attaching them to the shrine of the god to

* “ The great round mirror of
knowledge says, ‘ Wise men and fools
are embarked in the same boat ’ ;
whether prospered or afflicted, both
are rowing over the deep lake ; the
gay sails lightly hang to catch the
autumnal breeze; then away they
straight enter the lustrous clouds,
and become partakers of heaven’s
knowledge.”

“ The believing man, Hanyo Shen-
kaman, who no longer grows old.”

‘‘ The believing woman, once called
Yuenning : happy was the day she
left.”

“ Multitudes fill the graves.”

“ To enable to enter the abodes of
the perfect, and to sympathise fully
with the men of the world, belongs to
Buddha. It is only by this one ve-
hicle, the coffin, we can enter Hades.
There is nought like Buddha, nothing
at all.”

“We of the huuiau race, with

hearts, minds, and understandings,
when we read the volumes of Buddha
enjoy great advantages.”

“He whose prescience detects
knowledge says: As the floating

grass is blown by the gentle breeze,
or the glancing ripples of autumn
disappear when the sun goes down,
or as the ship returns home to her
old shore, so is life, it is a smoke, a
morning tide.”

“ Buddha himself earnestly desires
to hear the name of this person (who
is buried), and wishes he may go to
life.”

“He who has left humanity is
now perfected by Buddha’s name,
as the withered moss is by the
dew.”

“ The canon of Buddha says. All
who reach the blissful laud will be-
come so (hat they cannot bo made to
transmigrate (or cliango for the
worse).”

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

be moved, and of suspending votive pictures and other
objects, after the fashion of many Eoman Catholic churches.
Some of these are memorials of gratitude for favours and
beneficent interventions in the past ; others are emblems
of prayer and propitiation for future benefits. All the
accidents, mischances, miracles, hopes, ambitions, and long-
ings of life are represented here ; and one is at a loss —when
looking, for example, at a framed and glazed picture of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s ships which is hung up
here — to wonder whether one of the great metropolitan
temples of Japan is not being brought down to the
miserable level of our own towns and cities, in which the
advertiser is allowed to push from sight and sense every-
thing but his own monstrous impertinence, and the things
on behalf of which that is employed. “ Beyond the great
space devoted to the public are the various altars and gilt
images of the deities, sages, and saints of the Buddhist
Pantheon and Calendar. Candles burn, incense floats,
and the sacred books repose here. The privileged faithful
can, for a fee to the fat priests who sit behind their account-
books, come within the iron wire screen, and, kneeling on
the clean matting in front of the great altar, may pray,
or read or chant sacred books, canonical or liturgical, or,
having a vow to a particular deity, or wishing to invoke
the intercession of a special saint, may enter, to kneel
remote from the crowd ” (Grifiis).

It is unnecessary to recount here our visits to other
temples in Tokio, either Buddhist or Shinto, as in recording
our journey through the interior I shall have many occa-
sions to make mention of such. It was necessary to take
notice of that of Akasuka, owing to its unique celebrity,
and to the prominent place which it occupies in the present
life of the city. But as it has been described in detail
by others, I have been content to sketch its leading
characteristics.

Several days of our first month in Tokio were instructively
spent in acquainting ourselves with the methods pursued in
the production of the beautiful Japanese works of art in

CHAP. II.]

A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CARITAL,

lacquer and bronze. Every process and detail were laid
open to our leisurely inspection, and delightful it was to
observe and watch the operations of the art-labourers.
These manufactures are carried on in small detached rooms
and workshops, which bear no resemblance whatever to the
great factories with which we are familiar at home, and
after many visits to them, both in the capital and in the
interior towns, I can cordially say with Dr. Dresser, who
visited Japan to study the subject, that “ while the art
processes of Japan are such as render the production of
quantity impossible if excellence is to be obtained, they yet
secure the highest degree of art merit.” I can likewise say
with him : “ I have watched the poor artisan labouring at his
work with an earnestness and love such as I never beheld
out of Japan, and the very features of the workmen testify
to their happiness, and to the love with which they perform
their painstaking labour. No thought of gain appears to
enter their minds, and no touch is spared which will make
the work more lovely ; this is how the beautiful works
which we delight to look upon are produced.” It is also
true, as has been said,* that “in the Japanese workman
there is first an intense love of nature ; he is a student of
nature, and loves birds, flowers, and insects, and he carries
out this love in his work. But the great point is that he
thinks, so to speak, through the material in which he works.
In all my experience and examination of Japanese objects I
have failed to find any evidence that the workman has
ever thought of imitating any other material, method, or
process than that in which and for which he was working,”
From the earliest days the production of lacquer-work
has been a specialty of Japan, and one in which it has never
been equalled. It is considered by some that it attained its
greatest artistic perfection in Japan about five hundred
years ago, of which and of former periods there are many
specimens extant, while the manufacturing skill lavished
upon it was greater from one to three centuries ago than at

* By Mr. George Wallia.

JAPAN.

[chap. it.

any other period. It is satisfactory to know, however, more
especially as the old lacquer of Japan is now becoming ex-
ceedingly rare and precious in the country,^ that although
large quantities of common lacquer-work is now produced in
the country, the art of producing the best work, in both a
manufacturing and artistic sense, is still fully preserved and
practised, although the value of labour has greatly increased,
of course, in the country since the days either of Taka -Uji or
of lyeyasu. The exhibition of Paris in 1878 furnished the
world with abundant proofs of this statement. This and
former European and American exhibitions, while amply
recompensing the Japanese exhibitors, have created so great
a further demand for their products that it is not easy to
sustain a proportionate supply. The difficulty lies in the
fact that the characteristic refinements and delicacies of
the best art have been handed down from age to age, from
father to son, and cannot be learnt from books or in schools
of apprenticeship.

I have said that this production of choice lacquer-work in
Japan comes down from very remote times. A book said to
have been written nearly two centuries before the Christian
era speaks of articles of lacquer being employed at the
court ; and we ourselves saw in the temple of Todaiji, in
the ancient capital of Nara, lacquer boxes for containing
prayer-books which appear to have been made in the third
century of our era, which are much admired by connoisseurs,
and are held to prove that the art had attained great ex-
cellence even in those ancient days. In the year 380 a.d.
a minister of state published a workf in which red and gold
lacquers are mentioned. In 410 an officer (Minamoto-no-
Juin) published another work,J in which he speaks of
lacquers of gold, and likewise of other lacquers known as
nasliiji, which are of orange colour sown with sparks of gold.

* “For a box about six inches 0. Dresser, at the Society of Arts,

square I was asked iu Japan My own experience corroborates

£100 steiling, and Lady Parkes told this.

me that line specimens were, ’in Tokio, f ‘ Fngishiki,’ by the Sa-Dai-jin.

bringing their weight in gold.” — Dr. J ‘ Utsubo Monogatari.’

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL.

and the makers of which he speaks of as very celebrated.”
In 480 a lady, who achieved literary renown, in one of her
works'^ speaks of a novel description of lacquer incrusted
with pearl. Further progress cannot be traced up to the
tenth century, early in which the country obtained rest
from centuries of political and military strife, and the
peaceful arts began once again to exhibit vigour. In an
official compilation published at the last Paris Exhibition it
is stated that at the beginning of that century the artistic
taste of Japan awakened, and its art-workmen applied them-
selves with devotion to the production of articles which
should be distinguished alike by the utmost solidity and
the greatest beauty, in order to keep pace with their neigh-
bours. The objects then produced unite these two qualities
in the highest degree, their creators having spared neither
time nor pains in the effort to produce works which should
carry their names down to posterity. The productions of
the Japanese lacquer-workers from the year 910 to 1650,
known as Jidai mono, are very highly esteemed. In the
long peace enjoyed subsequently under the Tokugawas the
taste for works of art extended, and the rich and noble
families came to consider articles in lacquer as indispensable
adornments of their palaces, and their production conse-
quently was greatly increased. But this and all other
branches of art and manufacture in Japan were dependent
upon local demands down to our own time, and only obtained
the stimulus of a foreign demand when in 1859 the port of
Yokohama was thrown open — or shall we say forced open ? —
to foreign commerce. Lacquer has since become one of the
chief articles of exportation. In the Vienna Exhibition of
1873 a great falling off in the quality of the Japanese ex-
hibits of lacquer-work was observed. The government of
the country thereupon addressed themselves to the revival
of the art, and with so much success that it is doubtful if
the vast Exhibition of Paris in 1878 contained anything
more strikingly beautiful and admirable in every respect

VOL. II.

* ‘ Genji Monogatari,’ by Mura-saki Shikibu.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

than the lacquer exhibits of the Japanese section. It is
thought by some authorities that the finest specimens of
ancient work were then surpassed both in form and in
colour. The manufacture is carried on in several provinces,
hut its best workmen and most perfect works are to be
found, it is said, in the three great cities — Tokio, Kioto, and
Osaka.

The Japanese lacquer is laid usually upon articles of wood,
and not upon articles of papier-mache, as many suppose. It
is produced from the sap of the rims vernicifera, which is
taken in its natural state into a large wooden tub or vat,
and there stirred in the sun with a large spatula until its
excess of water is evaporated. In some cases the varnish so
produced undergoes careful straining ; in others it is mixed
with sulphate of iron, and in others with vermilion, or red
oxide of iron, or indigo. Oil is sometimes employed, and
powdered stone likewise. Into some inferior varnishes a sort
of paste, made of rice, enters in a considerable proportion.
There are a dozen methods of employing the various varnishes,
differing according to the nature of the object to be produced.
In the best lacquer numerous coatings are applied, dried,
and polished successively. The first polishings are done
with a stone named tsushimada (suitable for hones), the later
by means of water and charcoal, made from the Andromeda
ovalifoUa, and the last with pulverised stag’s horn. All the
polishings are effected by the hand. The laying on of the
successive layers of varnish is often a matter of great skill,
care, and patience, especially where highly raised surfaces are
required by the conditions of the finished design ; and those
who examine some of the best specimens of Japanese lacquer
little imagine how much of these qualities have been ex-
pended upon them. In his recent work on the ‘ Art and Art
Industries of Japan,’ Sir Piutherford Alcock says: “Mr.
Audsley speaks of one cabinet in the collection of Mr. James
L. Bowes in which he thinks he can distinguish nine different
species, of lacquers, and twenty-four different modes of artistic
treatment, together with sixteen different modes of applying
and decorating gold-work, and seven ways of treating various

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN TTJE EASTERN CAPITAL.

metals. . . . There is infinite variety in the valne which the
Japanese themselves attach to specimens, according to the
fineness of the varnish employed, and the time that has
elapsed since the work was completed, as the varnish acquires
by age a vitreous hardness. Of course the quality of the
design and artistic treatment enters also largely into the
question of value.”

In the passage which I have omitted from this quotation
occurs this sentence : “ Gold and other metals and colouring
matters are sometimes mingled with, and at others applied
on, the surface, as the designs are elaborated, hut all, 1 believe,
in a liquid state'' * As Sir Kutherford has himself seen, as
he states, the production of Japanese lacquer-work, it is
hard to call in question the statement of fact which he
reports ; but it is certainly an error to say that gold, for
example, is applied to Japanese lacquer in a liquid state. In
the case of smooth-surface lacquers, where the gold is not to
be in relief, the course pursued is as follows. The design to
be produced is traced upon a leaf of paper, which is then
reversed, and has repeated upon the opposite side of it the
outlines and other features of the design, in a mixture of
varnish and vermilion softened over a mild fire. This side
of the paper is then applied to the lacquer to be decorated,
and the paper is rubbed and pressed upon it by means of a
small spatula of bamboo. The transfer of the pattern from
the paper to the lacquered surface is further assisted by
gently beating the paper down with a small silk bag con-
taining powdered stone. The paper is then peeled off, and
can be used again if desired. The slight relief of the pattern
so produced upon the lacquer is rubbed down with carbon
polish, and the design, and that alone, is then lightly covered
with a thin layer of quickly drying varnish. Gold in powder
is then applied to the moist sui-face— by means of a camel’s-
hair pencil if the gold-powder be fine, and by means of a
small tube if it be comparatively coarse and heavy. The
article is then dried for a day in a warm closet, such as is

D 2

* The italics are mine.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

used for drying the ordinary lacquer varnish. The design
is next lightly coated with a very thin layer of varnish,
applied by means of paper steeped in it, and passed very
delicately over the object, which is then re-dried in the
closet. The object receives several further extremely light
coatings of varnish and subsequent polishings before it
is completed. Silver is applied in powder in the same
manner.

When either gold or silver has to he applied to designs in
relief, the details of the process vary considerably from the
foregoing, hut the application of the metals is effected in
substantially the same manner. When leaf-gold, and silver
in leaf, have to he applied, they are laid upon the varnished
surface prepared to receive them, and dealt with in the usual
manner, the varnish acting as a “ size ” for the metal leaf.
When mother-of-pearl has to he employed as an incrustation
for lacquer, it is laid on during the varnishing processes,
earlier if it be thick than if it he thin, and the final polishing
is proceeded with until the pearl is brought to the surface.

The production of articles in cast metal, like that of
articles in lacquer, began so early in Japan that all trace
of its origin is lost. As far back as the middle of the
seventh century of our era the discovery of antique copper
hells beneath the ground commenced (while levelling the
site of the temple of So-fuku-ji in Omi), and has continued
at intervals down to recent times. It was hastily considered
that these were relics of ancient Buddhist temples, hut
Buddhism had but so recently made its way into Japan,
when the hell above-named was discovered, that the true
explanation of the existence of these buried castings has yet
to be sought. It is certain, however, that these bells, and
all other cast articles of very early periods, containing
copper, were either the productions of other countries, or
were produced from imported metals, for native copper was
not discovered in Japan until the eighth century of our era.
In view of this fact it is highly probable that the art of
casting in bronze, as well as cast articles, was introduced
into Japan from Korea or China. But “ if the Japanese

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 37

have borrowed from the Chinese in bronze-casting, of which
there is no proof,” bluntly says Sir Kutherford Alcock in the
work already quoted in this chapter, “ they seem to have
nothing to learn from us. They not only give all the
delicate moulding of the lotus-leaf by some process unknown,
but produce relief ornamentation by cutting the surround-
ing metal away, as Mr. Audsley has rightly pointed out.
Such relieved work they further enrich with the burin
or damascene with gold and silver. . . . They are much in the
habit of graving diaper and other patterns on bronzes and
filling them up with silver wire, with which they cover
large surfaces in salvers or vases with good effect, and
very original designs on patterns.”

The Japanese method of producing bronze articles is to
commence by modelling in wax (mixed with resin, etc.) the
object to be produced, and then most carefully to cover the
wax model with clay or argile. By submitting the whole to
the action of heat the wax is melted from the interior of
the clay, and a mould is thus left, into which the molten
bronze is poured. The process seems simple enough when
thus described ; but it is often worked out with such
marvellous skill and elaboration as to excite both wonder
and admiration when the finished result is beheld. In
forming the model, the wax is used chiefly for the more
delicate parts, blocks of wood being employed for the more
solid parts. Care is taken, of course, to so form and pro-
portion these blocks that they can be withdrawn from the
mould before the casting takes place. In forming the
mould around the model of wood and wax, a succession of
liquid or semi-liquid argillaceous coatings are laid on with a
brush, the quantity of sand being increased in the successive
coatings, and each coating dried to receive the next. When
the delicate model has thus been substantially protected,
and had its finer interstices filled in, the whole is covered
in with dry sand, which is pressed into the cavities and
depressions, and formed into a rough exterior suitable for
the further operations. The mould is then placed in the
furnace, which is of a sufficient heat to melt the wax.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

which is largely absorbed by the sand, and converted into
escaping gas. Care has to be exercised before the pouring
in of the bronze, to bring the mould to a proper tempera-
ture, in order to secure a free flow of the metal, uncbilled,
throughout the finer parts of the mould.

The European mode of casting ornamental objects, such
as birds, flowers, etc., in very high relief as decoration of
larger bronze objects, is to employ “piece moulds” pro-
duced in the following manner. ' After moulding the
pattern in wax or clay, and taking a plaster cast from it,
you from this again take a cast in an alloy of tin and lead.
This is then sharply chased and divided into a number of
pieces, and is then used as the pattern from which the bronze
or other article produced is moulded. The process is, of
course, an expensive one, and it is not resorted to by the
Japanese. They never employ piece-moulds, and yet such
is their skill that they produce complex flower-forms as
perfect as simpler castings, and more perfect than we ever,
as a matter of fact, do produce by aid of our piece-moulds.
It follows from their plan that whereas with the piece-
mould system a succession of articles can be produced from
the same mould, the Japanese require to remodel every
article. As Dr. Dresser says : “ If a thousand articles had
to be cast, each with a flower in relief on the side, and if
each vase was to be of precisely the same pattern, a separate
model would yet he prepared for the casting of each, and
the same labour would be expended in producing every one
that was expended on the production of the first.”

The idea of producing a thousand ornamental articles
precisely alike is entirely foreign to- the Japanese. I have
never yet seen a pair of bronzes alike in all respects, and
one of the great charms of their productions lies in the
certainty that each is a separate and more or less in-
dependent work of art. That they produce articles in
pairs is known to everybody, but while there are general
resemblances between the two articles composing the pair,
there are also marked differences between them. I have,
for example, a splendid pair of bronze vases (measuring 26

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL.

inches high and 14 inches across) which represent, in my
judgment, the most perfect work now executed in Japan."^
They are a pair in form and general features, the con-
ventional peacocks which form bracket-handles and the
conventional nameless creatures which surround the base,
being also alike in both. The general disposition of the
ornamental work upon them is likewise the same in both.
But beyond this the resemblances of the two vases do not
go, for every detail of the flowers, birds, fans, and other
decorative ornaments is different ; where the same flower is
repeated, it is presented in another form, with a different
arrangement of stalk, leaves, and buds. The main ornament
on one side of each vase is a figure group, but the figures
are different, and differently disposed ; that of the other side
is a group of flowers, sprays, and birds, but the grouping of
the two bear little resemblance. These vases furnish a
striking example of the success with which the Japanese artist
contrives to cover a very large portion of the object with
decoration, and yet to avoid any such crowding of objects as
to suggest excess. They also furnish an equally striking
example of the variety of artistic interest given by them to
individual objects. They are adorned with objects in relief,
others in intaglio, and others in plain insertion. Various
precious metals are employed in all of these ways, gold
being most commonly used in in relievo. There are forty-
five figures in gold in a single group> of birds antT flowers,
exclusive of many scattered blossom-specklings in the same
metal. But it is unnecessary to dwell upon the beauty of
the Japanese bronzes, for it has been freely recognised by
all who have studied the subject.

The method of producing coloured pictures in metals,
known as syahfdo, has been justly pronounced by Mr.
Audsleyt as perhaps the most characteristic of all the

* Tliey were presented to me by of war which I had the honour to
the imperial government in token of design and superintend for him.
the satisfaction which his majesty f One of the authors of ‘ Keramaic
the emperor was pleased to e.xpress Art of Japan/ by Messrs. Audsley &

with the three armour-plated vessels Bowes, of Liverpool.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

metallurgical works of Japan. “ In this,” he says,
“ numerous metals and alloys are associated, the designs
being produced in colours through the agency of the
various coloured metals ; white being represented by silver,
yellow by gold, black by platina, all shades of dull red by
copper and its alloys, brown by bronze, and blue by steel.
Gold, silver, and polished steel, of course, represent them-
selves in design as well as abstract colours. A red garment,
embroidered with gold and clasped with silver, would be
executed in red-coloured copper, inlaid with gold, and
furnished with a silver brooch. The sword in the hand of
the warrior would be unpolished steel, and, if bloody, would
have red copper laid in it. I have seen many beautiful
specimens of syahfdo, and can bear witness to their faultless
execution.” Of repousse work Sir Eutherford Alcock says it
“ is said to be known and practised by them, but I cannot
say I have ever seen any clearly marked specimen.” But it
is a fact that this class of metal work is produced in Japan,
as I can state from observation there. It is sometimes
produced by beating the metal into a steel mould, sunk and
engraved for the purpose ; at other times it is produced by
simply hammering, with or without a mandril. The artists
sometimes make a point of putting no ornament that would
obliterate the traces of the hammering. This branch of
metal work, however, is much less common in Japan than
that of casting.

Before concluding these remarks on bronzes, I ought to
note that by an act of courtesy on the part of the governor
of Tokio we were privileged to see, and to study repeatedly
and leisurely, what all the Japanese who saw it pronounced
the very finest specimen of bronze-casting that had ever
been executed in Japan. This splendid specimen of the
national art — a man’s figure engaged with a dr-agon — was
sent to Admiral Kawamura’s house by the governor soon
after our arrival, and was allowed to remain there
throughout our visit. I feel quite incapable of putting
into words any such description of it as would convey to
the reader even an approximate idea, either of its beauty

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 41

as a work of art, or of its wonderfulness as a meclianical
production.

One exceedingly pleasant and interesting day of our
first month was spent in visiting the paper mills of Ogi, a
short drive from the city, under the guidance of their
excellencies the minister of finance (in whose department
part of them are) and the minister of public works. The
art of paper-making is one in which the Japanese have
long excelled, some of their paper productions surpassing in
strength, and others in parchment-like qualities, those of
every other country, even down to the present time. My
esteemed friend Sir Sydney Waterlow advised me before I
went to Japan to note with particular interest this branch
of manufacture, observing that there existed in this country
demands for some very special classes of paper which could
only be supplied from there. In pursuance of this sugges-
tion, I lost no opportunity of looking closely into the subject,
although I cannot profess to have discovered any secrets
relating to it. By the kindness of the government I was
able to bring away with me assorted specimens of the
productions of Ogi and of other mills, and so beautiful are
some of these that I was not surprised to find the Ogi
factory executing large orders from the French and Kussian
governments, and from several private firms in Europe,
the quality most in request being a beautiful fine-surfaced
paper of excessive toughness, which is found very valuable
as a material for military maps, and for other purposes in
which great durability and power of sustaining much wear
and tear without injury are objects of first importance.

It is impossible to trace the history of the paper-manu-
facture in Japan back to its commencement. Specimens
produced at the beginning of the eighth century after
Christ still exist, and show that the art of paper-making was
then highly developed. In the Nihonhi mention is made of
the matter in the year 590 a.d., and the words “ Paper is
manufactured ” are there recorded ; but this was probably
suggested by the introduction of some improvement from
Korea rather than by the invention of paper-making, as it is

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

known that books were already in existence. In the year
900 A.D. three descriptions of paper were produced in Japan :
1. Mashi, made from hempen rag pulp ; 2. Hishi, made from
such plants as gampi {Wickstroemia canescens) ; 3. KoJcushi,
made from hozo (Broussonetia 2^<^py^ifsra), which was like
the paper now in common use in the country.

Excepting paper made from rags, for the production of
which large European factories have been erected at Ogi,
Japanese paper is produced from a small number of materials,
the chief of which have just been named. The first in
importance of these is kozo, the plant named last in the
preceding paragraph. It is the fourth order of the twenty-
first class of the Linnaean system, and is a small shrub
reaching to about six feet in height, with branches springing
directly from the earth, and grows in nearly all the provinces
of Japan. It is a deciduous plant, bearing its new dark-
green leaves in springtime. The leaves are “ ovate in form,
with a sinuous or serrated margin, and very rough upon the
upper surface.” There are two kinds of this shrub, pis-
tilliferous and staminiferous.,* They are propagated either
by layering (marcottage) or by root-slipping. The mode of
treating them for paper-making purposes is as follows :
They are cut into 3-feet lengths and steamed in a large
boiler containing a little boiling water. The bark is then
peeled off, steeped in 'water, and has the dark outer rind or
pellicle scraped off with a knife, the scrapings being used
for producing inferior paper. The bark thus scraped and
cleansed is next carefully washed in running water, and
then exposed to the sun until bleached sufficiently white.
After this it is boiled in a lye, formed with buckwheat
ash, to remove gummy and resinous substances from it.

*“The staminiferous blossom iuflorescenceofthepistilliferoiis plant
about the middle of May ; the iiiflor- is also supported ou a peduncle, and
cscence is axillary, and supported on consists of a number of flowers ar-
a peduncle of a little more than an ranged together in a head ; from each
inch in length ; the corolla is monope- blossom a long pistil projects ; their
talous, divided into four lobes at the colour is dark purple.”— Mr. Saka-
limb, and is of a dark purple colour. kibara Yosiuo, in Exhibit on Japan-
/Ihesc blossoms are tetrandrous. The cse Education of 1876.

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 43

The fibres are then readily separated. After cutting out
knots of excessive hardness, the workman now beats the
fibre into a pulp with wooden mallets upon blocks of stone.
This pulp is mixed in tubs or vats with the needful quantity
of water, to which is added a milky substance prepared with
rice flour and a gummy decoction from the bark of the
Nori nohi {Hydrangea iMnicuIata) oi from the root of the
tororo.* When the steeping in this mixture has proceeded
sufficiently long, the pulp is spread out into sheets by means
of fine sieves of bamboo and silk. After draining, the sheets
are transferred by means of brushes to drying-boards.

Similar processes are employed for producing paper from
gampi. This plant {Wickstroemia canescens) is the fourth
order of the eighth class of Linnaeus, and is a small shrub
growing sometimes ten feet in height, with leaves arranged
alternately on the stem, the under surface of each leaf being
covered with soft hair. Its blossoms, coming about the
middle of June, are of a pale yellow colour. The flowers
are octandrous, with one pistil. The paper made from this
shrub is very fine and supple, and is therefore very suitable
for taking transfer copies. It has also the advantage of not
becoming worm-eaten. Paper is also made from the mitsu
mata plant (Edgworthia papyrifera)^ the first order of the
eighth class, a deciduous shrub growing to seven or eight
feet in height. At the close of autumn many buds spring
on the ends of the branches and arrange themselves in a
cluster, “ hanging down like a wild bee’s nest,” and blossom-
ing when the spring comes round. The branches are so

* “ Tororo Hibiscus. The seventh
order of the sixteenth class of
Linnaeus, a genus of Malvaceae of De
Candolle. This is an herbaceous plant,
the seeds of which are sown in spring.
It grows to the height of one or two
feet, and is of a hairy nature. The
leaves are palmate, having five or
seven lobes, and are arranged alter-
nately on the stem. During the hot
season fiowers spring from the ends

and axils of the branches. The
corolla has five petals, and is more
than two inches in diameter ; it is of
a pale-yellow colour, with a dark-pur-
ple blotch at the bottom of each petal,
and is ephemeral. These flowers are
monodelphous and polyandrous. The
pod is five-celled, each cell containing
many seeds. The root is conical, and
abounds with viscous juice.” — Mr.
Yosino.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

pliant that they will not break when knotted.* The corolla
of the flower is white outside and yellow inside. The leaves
appear after the blossom has fallen.

The Ogi mills comprise one which belongs to a company,
and which is fitted up throughout with English machinery,
first for preparing the materials by sorting, cutting, dusting,
boiling, washing, bleaching, heating, and colouring ; and
secondly for converting the prepared material into finished
sheets of paper, by the processes of straining, knotting (the
separation of knots, impurities, or of matted fibre which has
formed into strings, or is insufficiently ground), making,
pressing, drying, glazing, cutting, sorting, polishing, and
packing. The machinery was supplied by Messrs. Easton
and Anderson, of London and Erith, and is among the best
that can he produced, embodying nearly every modern im-
provement. This machinery was ordered in August 1873,
and was shipped to Japan in June 1874 ; by August 1875 it
was at work, having been erected and fitted under a skilled
European overseer, hut entirely by the labour of Japanese
artisans. The English officer, Mr. Frank Cheeseman, who
superintended the work at Ogi, has stated that he was
favourably impressed by the intelligence and skill of the
Japanese workmen, and by the high character of the native
gentlemen who own the mill. The mill is capable of pro-
ducing from fifteen to twenty tons of paper per week.

The uses to which paper is put in Japan are almost as
numerous as those to which bamboo is applied in that and
other eastern countries, and those who have travelled in such
countries know how very diversified are the uses of that
invaluable plant. Besides its application to all the common
purposes with which we are familiar at home, paper is
employed in Japan in place of glass in the sliding walls of
the houses, for pocket-handkerchiefs, napkins, in lieu of
string, etc., and I have brought to England with me table-
cloths made of paper, and even waistcoats and other such

* “ Its stem and branches are tri- four slender petals. . . . The flower
chotomous. . . . The flowers are like is eimeandrous, and has one pistil.’*
those of the Daphne odora, having — Mr. Yosino.

CHAP. II.] A MONTH IN THE EASTEBN CAPITAL. 45

articles of wearing apparel. I am disposed to believe that
when the Japanese table-cloths and napkins become well
known in this country they will come into very large demand.
And the same appears to me to be highly probable with
regard to stationery, and more particularly to envelopes,
which, although wholly formed of paper, are much superior
in strength and toughness to many of the linen-lined
envelopes employed by us for business purposes. The
leather-like wall-papers of Japan are exceedingly beautiful
and very cheap. There has nevertheless sprung up in Japan,
since the European invasion, a considerable demand for some
descriptions of paper which we use, but which were previously
unknown there, and I am informed that there are five fac-
tories now in Tokio engaged in manufacturing paper to meet
this want.

The language and literature, the arts of drawing and
painting, the colleges and schools, the public services, the
museums and other institutions of the country and of the
capital, likewise engaged more or less of our attention during
our first month in Japan ; but the results of our observations
must be reserved for later chapters, as this is already of
unusual length. I will only add the following notes on the
‘‘ Fu ” of Tokio, which a high official was so obliging as
to furnish in response to a request which I made to him.

The Tokio Fu-Cho is an office of the local government having for
its management the protection of the persons and property in Tokio,
the capital of the whole empire, and is thus a branch of the central
government. The extent of its jurisdiction is 7 ris (17 miles) from
east to west, and the same from north to south. (Its limits are New
Tone Eiver on the east, Tanashi postal station on the west, Eojugo
Eiver on the south, and Ara Eiver on the north ; the first being the
boundary between the provinces of Musashi and Shimofusa, and the
three last being in the province of Musashi.) Its boundary line is 30
ris long (73'5 miles) ; under its jurisdiction are what are called the
seven isles of Idsu, but as they are wholly separated from the land
they are now omitted here, and the whole Fu is divided into 15 kus
(formerly called Fu Proper) and 6 giins or koris (formerly called Fu
Exterior).

‘‘ The 15 kus are the following : Kojimachi, Kanada, Nihonbashi,
Kiobnshi, Shiba, Azabu, Akasata, Yotsuya, Ushigome, Kongo,

46.

JAPAN.

[chap. II.

Koisliikawa, Sbitaya, Asakiisa, Honjo, and Fukagawa. The district
included under these names was in the days of the Tokugawa Shogunate
called Yedo, and was under the jurisdiction of the north and south
yakushos, or offices. After the revolution of 1868 its name was
changed into Tokio.

“ Not only is it a great metroiDolis, but it is a seat of the imperial
palace, of the chief posts of the army and navy, of the various ktinns
and shos, the source of all laws and institutions, and place of the
foreign legations; where the traders and artisans crowd from all
quarters of the empire, where the key of the foreign commerce is kept ;
nay, it is the centre of all business, political, civil, commercial,
industrial, agricultural, literary, and artistic. It is indeed the greatest
city of the whole empire, and must not be considered as equalled by
other fits and kens.

“As to the 6 guns or they are the following ; Yebara, East

Tama, South Tashima, North Tashima, South Adachi, and South
Kadzushika. These consist mainly of extensive fields, and are in-
habited by farmers, almost all of whom subsist by cultivation, thus
separating the gitns from the fifteen kus, or the Fu proper. Every k2i
has its kuclio, and every gun its guncho, who are respectively the
president of each ku and gun office, and there are kuchos in the mnra
into which the guns are divided.

“ These officers are all under the superintendence of the Fu Cho,
and are ordered to manage the affairs of the local executive govern-
ment under their respective jurisdictions. The kuchos and gunchos
are appointed by the Fuchiji, or the governor, and the kochos are
chosen by the peojffe of the mxira. Besides there are the representa-
tives from every ku and gun, who are chosen by the people, and are
summoned periodically or occasionally to the Fucho to discuss the
local interests and benefits. They compose what is called Fu Kai, or
the Fu Parliament. There are also Ku Kais and Cho-Son Kais (or the
ku and mura assemblies), consisting of the deputies elected by the
people to discuss the economy of their own districts.

“ The administration of affairs under Tokio Fu differs in several
respects from that of other local governments. For instance, in other
local governments the police affairs are under the direction of the
governors, but in Tokio they are superintended by Daikeishi, who is
the head of Keishi Honsho, wholly separate from Tokio Fu, and
established by Keishi Kioku, a department of Naimu Sho in the central
government. Thus the execution of all regulations concerning the
persons and property must be subject to the approval of Daikeishi
before they are carried into effect.

“ The situation of the office of Tokio Fu is No. 1 Sichi Saiwai cho
Tokio, occupying seven thousand tsuho (5 7 acres). It is divided
into many departments, and has under its jurisdiction the fifteen

CHAP. II.] A MONTJI IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 47

kus and six^^ms before mentioned. Its affairs arc very multitiidinons.
The following is a brief summary : —

The investigation of the census.

“ The education of the people.

“ The development of industry, agricultural, manufactural, and
commercial.

The inspection of the franchised market-place (Tsukiji).

“ The gathering of taxes.

The management of rivers, dykes, aqueducts, and banks.

‘‘ The construction and repairing of roads and bridges.

‘‘ The supply of water for city use.

The drainage and the prevention of plague.

The control of sanitary affairs in general.

“ The payment of yearly pensions to the decoration- wearers and
pension-holders of Kuwazokus, Shizoku, and of Heimin.

“ The making of awards to virtuous people, obedient children, and
faithful wives and servants.

The superintendence of the Shinto and Buddhist priests.

“ The helping of the poor widows and widowers, orphans, childless
old men, maimed persons, and paupers.

“ The establishment of the means of giving medicines to, and curing
the diseases of, the poor and helpless.

“Besides, it manages the affairs concerning the appeals of the
people. But in all cases of importance it needs the direction from
the central government, or every slio, concerning the affair. Every
sho is subject to the control and guidance of the central government,
and has for its management the department of the navy and army,
the home and state affairs, the finance and justice, the public works
and education.

“ A brief account of the landed property and the number of houses
and population is as follows. The area of Tokio Fu is estimated at 33
square ris (197’5 sq. miles), and the landed property is more than
100,000,000 imho (82,101'8 acres), of which 7,000,000 tmho (5747T
acres) belong to the government, and 93,000,000 tmho (76,354 7 acres)
belong to the people. The number of houses is 25,830, and population
is 1,000,000 ; the length of public roads is more than 87 ris (212-8
miles) ; the number of rivers is 32, bridges 350, ships 18,000, carriages
more than 44,000, temples both Shinto and Buddhist nearly 2000 each,
colleges and schools 890, hospitals 30, and banks and other companies
more than 100.”

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

CHAPTEE III.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Early Japanese an unwritten language — Transmission of records by word
of mouth — The Indian Vedas — A colossal system of mnemonics —
Ancient language of Japan — The Loo-choo dialect— Japanese a Turanian
tongue — Mr. Hyde Clarke’s theory of an ancient Turano-African
empire — Intercourse with Korea — Influence of Chinese literature —
“ Letters of the god-age ” — The alphabet — Spoken and written language
— Difficulties of exploring Japanese literature — Diary of the old court
noble — A Japanese classic — Ja]mnese poetry — Poetry of the gods — A
verse by the god Susanod — Chant of the goddess Uzume — A “ Ko” —
Specimens of native poetry — Remarkable influence of women upon
literature — Interchange of prose and poetry between a Chinaman and
a Japanese — Captain Brinkley on the Japanese language — Mr. Hyde
Clarke on his Turano-African theory.

A MODERN official Japanese treatise says, “In the earliest
times the Japanese language had no written characters,” an
opinion which is based upon the results of the researches of
the most learned men of the country. There are those who
hold a contrary opinion, but the authority which I have
quoted affirms that the grounds for their belief are the
“mere forgeries of literary impostors.” The point is, of
course, one of great importance, for a _ nation which com-
mences its career with a written language usually carries
with it much more direct demonstrations, or at least indica-
tions, of its origin than a nation that grows up, on its
historic ground, from a condition so little developed as to
be devoid of written characters.

In the chapter on the God-period I have had occasion to
refer to the circumstances under which the sacred book
KojiJii assumed its known form by being taken down from

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITEBATUBE.

the dictation of Hiyetano Are, by whom it had been com-
mitted to memory ; and although this occurred as late as
the year 711 of our period, while we know that Confucian
books were introduced into Japan in the third century, still
it is an illustration of the fact that there, as in other
countries, the transmission of traditions, etc., by word of
mouth was a national practice. And but few people know
to how great an extent this practice prevailed in some nations,
even long after the introduction of written languages. How-
ever strange it may seem to say so, it is a fact that the
most ancient of all the sacred books in which wm ourselves,
as part of the Aryan world, are interested, viz. theKig-Yeda,
has been transmitted orally down to our own day, and has
had its sacred text first published in a complete form by a
scholar who is still alive, and still illuminating his age by
his genius. The Eig-Yeda has in some sense been the
Bible of millions upon millions of our fellow-creatures for
thousands of years, hut it was Mr. Max Muller who brought
out “ the first complete edition of that sacred text, together
with the most authoritative commentary of Hindu theo-
logians.” * There, no doubt, have long existed manuscripts
of the Yeda, but Mr. Max Muller himself states that hut
few MSS. in India are older than one thousand years after
Christ, and there is no evidence that the art of writing was
known in India much before the beginning of Buddhism —
the last remark being one which may be applied to Japan
likewise, hearing in mind that Buddhism only reached Japan
a thousand years after the life and death of Buddha — •

“ Prince Siddartlia styled on earth—

In earth and heavens and hells incomparable.”

The sacred traditions were handed down from generation
to generation by disciplined and practised memory alone.
‘‘ As far back as we know anything of India, we find that
the years which we spend at school and at university were
spent by the sons of the three higher classes in learning
from the mouth of a teacher their sacred literature. This

VOL. II.

The Commentary of Sayana Akarya.

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

was a sacred duty, the neglect of which entailed social de-
gradation, and the most minute rules were laid down as to
the mnemonic system that had to he followed. Before the
invention of writing, there was no other way of preserving
literature, whether sacred or profane, and in consequence
every precaution was taken against accidents.” * Stranger
still is the fact that those Brahmans who may he con-
sidered the especial guardians of the sacred traditions of
India in our own day do not employ either the written or the
printed texts in learning and transmitting their holy lore :
“ They learn it, as their ancestors learnt it thousands of
years ago, from the mouth of a teacher, so that the Yedic
succession should never be broken,” and so well do they
perform the duty, and so accurately do they transmit the
text, that “ there is hardly a various reading, in the proper
sense of the word, or even an uncertain accent, in the whole
of the Eig-Yeda,” which consists of more than a thousand
hymns averaging ten verses, and contains more than one
hundred and fifty thousand words.!

These glimpses into the system of transmitting literature
by oral teaching and by the training of the memory are
valuable, as serving to account for the extreme elaboration
which written characters underwent in Japan after their
invention and adoption. Educated as we now are, and
living as we do, it is difficult to think with toleration of
any language, whether spoken or written, which cannot he
fairly mastered in a year or two, and it is with impatience
that we read of Japan that “ at the lowest estimate a
schoolboy was required to learn one thousand different
characters ;” that ‘‘ in the government elementary schools
of the present time, about three thousand characters are
taught ;” and that “ a man laying any claim to scholarship
knows eight or ten thousand characters, while those who

* Ti.e Ilibbevt T.(ctures, 1878.
t In a postscript to his third liib-
bert Lecture Mr. INIax IMiiller cites
very interesting passages from an
ancient work showing in detail liow

the oral teaching of the Vedas was
carried on at least 500 n.c., and adds
statements from the pens of two native
scholars to show how it is maintained «
at the present day.

CHAP. III].

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

pass for men of great learning are expected to be acquainted
with many tens of thousands.” * While looking into this
matter, in Tokio, I requested my friend, Captain F.
Brinkley, E.A. (perhaps the greatest master of the Japanese
language among foreigners), to favour me with his views
upon it, and this he was kind enough to do. The memO'
randum with which he accordingly furnished me is so
valuable and instructive that I append it without alteration
to this chapter. It will be seen from it that some twelve or
thirteen thousand characters in all must be “ stored away
in the memory, beyond the reach of time and the necessity
of revision,” before a young Japanese can fairly start in
pursuit of science ! But it is easy to see that this colossal
system of mnemonics grew naturally enough out of that far
earlier system under which, before the invention of writing,
memory was the only library, and the toil of long years the
only means there were of storing it. Now that Japan has
entered upon the modern period, she must, so far, discard
her ancient forms of language as to furnish her sons with
readier means of acquiring knowledge.

The ancient language of Japan — by which I mean the
language spoken before the opening of her communications
with Korea and China— appears to have stood alone. It
had some degree of affinity with that of Korea, less (according
to the highest authorities) in the roots of words than in
grammatical form and structure. There is, however, but
one language outside of Japan itself which can be considered
as having many words in common with Japanese, and that
is the language of the Loo-choo Islands. This appears to so
far resemble the Japanese that Mr. Satow, who examined a
Loo-chooan “vocabulary, says that it differs very little from it ;
and adds that some members of the Loo-chooan embassy to
Yedo spoke Japanese with perfect correctness. This cor-
rectness must, however, be regarded as an accomplishment,
and not as a proof of identity between the two languages,

* Dr. David Murray, late Superin-
teudeiit of Education in Japan, iu

the Philadelphia Exhibit on Educa
lion.

E 2

JAPAN.

[ciTAr. m.

because interpreters are, as a matter of fact, often employed
to facilitate communications between natives of the respective
countries. It will be correct to assume, with Mr. Aston, that
the Loo-chooan tongue is an offshoot from the Japanese — a
mere Japanese dialect, in fact. The relation between the
languages of Japan and Korea is doubtless a wholly different
one, and one of far greater historic significance, but it is
quite beyond my power to throw any light upon it. All I
can do in the matter is to express surprise that, as far as
I know, this early philologic relationship between Japan and
the Korean peninsula has been so little studied.

It is to the absence of any living or known languages
allied to that of Japan and Loo-choo that we must primarily
attribute the little progress that has been made by com-
parative philologists in their investigations respecting it.
It has not yet received even a definite place among the
great families of tongues, some writers, at least, placing it,
with the Korean, among languages that are of doubtful
origin.* Authority on the whole, however, certainly excludes
it from the Aryan and Semitic classes, and includes it in
the Turanian group of tongues, although it is not to be
found in the long genealogical tables of that family of
languages which are given by Mr. Max Muller at the end
of his ‘ Lectures on the Science of Language.’ Mr. James
Fergusson, in his most interesting Ethnological Appendix
to his ‘ History of Architecture,’ boldly says : “ In the old
world the typical Turanians were the Egyptians ; in the
modern the Chinese and Japanese.” Mr. W. G. Aston, who
has acquired a masterly acquaintance with Japanese, and has
written grammars both of the spoken and of the written
language — which differ greatly — says that it possesses all
the characteristics of the Turanian family, being agglutinative
(i.e. maintaining its “ roots ” in their integrity), without

* The author of the article “Philo- the Tibetan, ami 3, the Siamese,

logy” in the 1878 edition of ‘ Cham- Anamese, and Barman, adding,

bors’ Encyclopaedia,’ for example, who, “ Japanese and the language of Korea
under the lieading “Monosyllabic or are doubtful.”

Isolating,” places 1, the Chinese, 2,

CHAP, III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

formative prefixes, poor in conjunctions, and copious in tlie
use of participles. He adds: “The Japanese language is
further an example of the rule common to all languages of
this family, that every word which serves to define another
word invariably precedes it ; thus the adjective precedes
the noun, the adverb the verb, the genitive the word which
governs it, the objective case the verb, and the word governed
by a prej)osition the preposition.” In a paper read at the
Asiatic Society of Japan in 1874, Mr. Aston nevertheless —
following up Mr. Edkin’s theory, that the Chinese language
had remote relations with the Aryan family — himself points
out some resemblances between Japanese and that family,
and gives numerous examples of apparent identity between
Japanese and Aryan roots. He lays no great stress on the
matter, and adduces the difficulty which I have already
mentioned, viz. the absence of cognate languages, as the
great obstacle to the pursuit of inquiries of this kind.

My learned friend Mr. Hyde Clarke, whose ethnological
and philological researches are well known, has long had his
attention drawn to the Japanese language, and after many
labours has discovered relations between that and the lan-
guages of Ashantee and western Africa. His expectations
of finding a solution of the main problem were discouraged
by the vast ethnological differences between the peoples ;
but having, on ethnological grounds, “ to distinguish a white
race earlier on the field of history than the Aryans,” he
has, in accordance with his readings of history, looked for
this race in High Africa — “ regions as healthy as those
of High Asia, from which the Aryan migrations are held
to have proceeded.” Pursuing this line of inquiry, he has
arrived at the opinion that it is in an ancient Turano-
African empire that the origin of the Japanese should be
sought. This view is so novel and so far-reaching that
I have appended to this chapter the memorandum upon
it with which Mr. Hyde Clarke has been so obliging as
to furnish me.

It was very early in our era, as will have already been
seen, that Japan began to have intercourse with Korea,

JAPAN.

[chap. hi.

and to derive thence aid and instruction which greatly
facilitated the progress both of the fine and of the in-
dustrial arts ; and few things are more striking even among
the many striking things which may now be observed in
Japan, than the complete and handsome manner in which
her present scholars, historians and officers, recognise this
ancient indebtedness to the people of the neighbouring
peninsula. The Japanese have plenty of native pride, no
doubt, but they appear to be without the false pride which
deters some people from acknowledging the advantages
which they have derived from others. A recent native
writer says that in the earliest times the use of alphabetical
characters was unknown in his country, and that it was
introduced when intercourse with foreign countries was first
opened. Characters are said to have been so introduced
by natives of Minama (part of Korea) who visited Japan
during the reigns of Kaikua and Sujin (157-30 b.c.).
Books were first seen in Japan when the warrior-empress,
Jingu Kogo, carried away from Korea as many of them
as she’ could lay hands on, with everything else that
was at once valuable and portable, after her successful
invasion of that country. In the third century (a.d.) the
son of the emperor Ojin was, as we have seen, taught to
read Chinese works, and from that time forward Chinese
language and literature exerted a strong influence upon
those of Japan.* Prior to this, there is reason to suppose.

* It is reasonable to ascribe to this
cause the circumstance that in Japan
as in China “ writing ” has always
signified so very much more than
with ourselves. Our alphabet is little
or nothing more than a mechanical
system of communication ; but in
China there is a divine authority and
beauty about their written characters.
Some of them came from the scales of
the turtle or dragon-horse that Toh-he
found in the river bed. These he
expanded to the great lines of the
universe. The starry curves of the

heavens, the undulations of moun-
tains, the winding of rivers — in these
were the elements of writing, and
these elements shared the divinity of
creation. Obviously a system of
writing thus begun, or thus developed,
would greatly favour that fanciful
interweaving of meanings which it is
impossible, as one so often finds, to
render in a language like ours, or
indeed in any foreign language what-
ever. I may have occasion to make
mention again of the difficulty in the
chapter on Proverbs and Phrases.

1. YosiTUNfc riding on the Tengu to take his Fencing Lessons at Kurama Yama.

2, Taibo : a fabulous bird : the Japanese “ Eoc.”

From Hokusai. Reproduced for this Work by a Japanese Engraver.

7b face page 54, Val. JI.

(

i •

i ■

1 .

I •

i .

? ;

J :

i i.

!■

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

tbe writing of letters was never practised, but epistolary
correspondence soon became practicable after tbe intro-
duction of Confucian books, and with them the commence-
ment of the study of the literary art. Nothing like Chinese
composition was, however, practicable in Japan until the
sixth century, when the introduction of Buddhism and
Buddhist writings gave a strong and lasting impulse to
the spread of Chinese literature, and now the number
of Chinese words in the Japanese language greatly exceeds
the number of native words. They are for the most part
easily distinguishable, it is said, although in some cases
Japanese words have undergone changes which make it
difficult to recognise them. It must not be inferred from
this that a knowledge of the Chinese language is absolutely
necessary for students of Japanese. “ What is really
essential,” says Mr. Aston, is an acquaintance with the
meaning and Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese
character. A familiarity with Chinese constructions and
forms of expression is not without value to the student of
the later form of Japanese, but it is quite possible to have
a knowledge of the language sufficient for all practical
purposes without being able to construe a single sentence
of a Chinese book.” He adds that a knowledge of one
of the spoken dialects of China is of no use whatever
to the student of Japanese.

Whence came the earliest written characters ever em-
ployed in Japan is a question that has excited much con-
troversy, Came they from the gods? Were they the
invention of the sages ? Or were they introduced from
Korea ? Each of these questions is answered in the affirma-
tive by some scholars, and denied by others. They are
known as Shinji, “ letters of the god age,” and the priests
of the old Shinto faith, with such modern Japanese scholars
as Hirata Atsutane, deem them to be the oldest written
characters known in Japan, and of purely Japanese origin,
dating, in fact, from the divine age. Others, who modestly
refrain from asserting the immediate descent of the
Japanese from the gods, maintain that these characters

JAPAN.

[chap. hi.

were the invention of those later and lesser gods, the sages,
and contend, as stoutly as the others, for their purely
Japanese character. The third theory — that they were
derived from the Korean Kito system of writing, and were
in substance brought over from Korea by the Japanese
army of invasion on its return home — is maintained by
Buddhist writers, and has many other supporters. Mr.
Aston thinks it the correct one, and says that the Shinji
have, at any rate, left no traces in the existing alphabets,
“ nor have they been the vehicle for transmitting to our
day any literary remains of the age to which they belong.” *
The differences between the spoken and written dialects
of Japan are very remarkable. The grammars of the two
are so different that Mr. Aston has published a separate
work upon each, so that merchants and others who wish
to acquire a knowledge of the colloquial tongue may pro-
ceed directly to their object. So broad is the distinction
between the two that foreign residents in the country
sometimes become familiarly acquainted with the colloquial
language, and yet remain incapable of reading a newspaper
article, a book, or a letter addressed to them ; while, on the

* It is no part of my plan to
attempt to give any detailed descrip-
tion of the language of Japan, which
must be sought in the grammars of
Mr. Aston and in the writings of
other scholars; but it may he inte-
resting to some readers to say that
in the Japanese language there are
forty-seven syllables, by the combina-
tion of which, and of a supplementary
character corresponding to n placed

at the end of the syllable, all the
words of the language may be repre-
sented. The equivalents of these
syllables, with a few supplementary
ones, are given in the table below, ex-
pressed in Eonmn characters, and in
reading them the English sounds
should be given to the consonants and
the Italian sounds to the vowels. The
table should be read down the verti-
cal columns, and from right to left : —

tsi

shi

tsu

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

other hand, a foreigner may acquire in his own country a
good knowledge of the written language, and have caught
the accent of Japanese, and yet be unable on visiting the
country to carry on a conversation with a native. There
is, of course, a notable distinction between the spoken and
written styles in most countries — there certainly is in our
own ; but the difference is far greater in the case of Japan
than in that of ours or any other well-known language of
Europe.

Although the literature of Japan is a mine which has
scarcely yet been opened, and it is hut natural to expect that
it may hereafter he worked with great interest and advan-
tage, those who have hitherto sunk their shafts and opened
up workings in it seem to have found it less rich than they
had hoped. This arises from two causes : first, most of the
literature that has come down to us from the period when
the language was at its best and purest was composed for
the very limited objects which the Mikado and the court had
in view in those days; and, secondly, all Japanese writers
appear to have hung one narrative or story so much upon
another that it is often difficult to select one complete in
itself. Other causes are the abundance of verbal artifices,
which cannot be translated, and the circumstance that the
habits of thought and life of the Japanese people have been
so wholly unlike our own that we could not permit ourselves
to publish much of that which has been most characteristic
and telling among themselves.

In the chapter on the Shinto Eeligion I have referred to,
and quoted from, the diary of an old court noble who lived
a thousand years ago, and I would again advert to it here
as a highly interesting example of old Japanese literature,
giving many bright glimpses into the life of the country
at that period. Mr. Aston, who describes and translates it,
calls it an Ancient Japanese Classic. It was entitled by its
author Tosa Nikki, or “ Tosa Diary.” This old fellow, named
Tsurayuki, who proudly traced his direct descent from one of
the Mikados, had been for four years prefect at Tosa, and
wrote the diary when on- his way back to the imperial city.

JAPAN. •

[chap. III.

He was a poet of eminence, and author of another work,
which has been pronounced the most perfect extant composi-
tion of the native style. In mingled jollity and grief — ^jollity
from hob-nobbing, including verse-making, with his suc-
cessor, and grief for that he left behind him a girl-daughter
who had died there — he set sail from Tosa. The new prefect’s
brother making his appearance on a neighbouring cape,
Tsurayuki landed on the beach, drank, and composed verses
with the brother, until the captain summoned him back on
board. The sahe was all gone, and the verses had been bad —
for, says he, it required the united efforts of two of the party
to make one bad verse, and he compares the verse-makers to
two fishermen labouring along with a heavy net upon their
shoulders — and he was nothing loth to rejoin his vessel.
Detained afterwards at Ominato for ten days, many presents
were sent to our Lucullus, one of them being a pheasant,
which, according to an old Japanese custom, was attached to
a blossoming plum- branch. With some of the gifts came
verses ; here is a specimen : —

“ Louder than the clamour of the white surges on your
onward path will be the cry of me, weeping that I am left
behind.”

“If that were really so, he must have a very loud voice,”
says our old friend, who must be excused the scoff on the
ground of the impatience which delay would naturally beget.
At length they were under weigh again ; and passing a grove
of ancient firs growing near the sea, with storks flying about
among their tops, he wrote the verse : —

“ Casting my glance over the sea ; on each fir-tree top a
stork has his dwelling ; they have been comrades for a
thousand years ” —

a verse not a whit truer or more poetical, that I can see,
than that at which he scoffed before. But who that re-
members the early passages of literary arms between .a
Bulwer and a Tennyson, the ‘ New Timon ’ and ‘ Alcibi-
ades,’ who

“ Hated each other for a soug,

And did their little best to bite'’

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITEIIATUBE.

shall wonder at these old saZ;e-steeped versifiers on the sea-
beach of Japan a thousand years ago saying a smart thing
or two at each other’s expense !

In those days, and in very small vessels, impelled mainly
by oars, as was this boat of Tsurayuki, the mariners cast their
small anchors for the night ; and here (always quoting Mr.
Aston’s graceful translation) is our poet’s description of the
nightfall : “ Whilst we rowed along gazing on this scene, the
mountains and the sea became all dark, the night deepened,
and east and west could not he seen, so we entrusted all our
thought of the weather to the mind of the master of our
ship. Even the men, who were not accustomed to the sea,
became very sad, and still more the women, who rested their
heads on the bottom of the ship and did nothing but weep.
The sailors, however, seemed to think nothing of it, and sang
the following boat-song.” He gives a few lines of it, and
then proceeds : “ There was a great deal more of this kind

of stuft*, but I do not write it down. Listening to the
laughter at these verses, our hearts became somewhat
calmed, in spite of the raging of the sea. It was quite dark
when we at length reached our anchorage for the night.”
Three days more brought them to Murotsu (close to the
easternmost of the southern peninsula of Shikoku), and
there they landed and took a bath. The diarist tells us, in
this day’s entry, that no one wore scarlet or other rich
colours in the vessel lest they should incur the anger of the
gods of the sea. After five days they sailed again, very
early in the morning, with the moon shining over a wave-
less ocean, which reflected the sky so perfectly that the two
could not be distinguished. Then he wrote this stanza : —

“ What is this that strikes against my oar as the boat
is rowed along over the moon of the sea-depths ? Is it
the bush of the man in the moon ? ”

At another time, when sailing in company with a large
number of other junks, he wrote, to my mind more prettily —

“It is spring, hut it seems as if over the sea the leaves
of autumn are being scattered.”

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

I pass over mucli of the narrative, pausing to observe that
at one place, where there were many beautiful shells upon
the beach, Tsurayuki composed these lines in allusion to a
shell which the Japanese call the %vasure-gai, or “ shell of
forgetfulness ” : —

would descend from my ship to gather the shell of
forgetfulness of one for whom I am filled with sorrowful
longing. Do ye, 0 ye advancing surges, drive it forward
to the strand.”

He afterwards says, pathetically enough, that the true
wish of his heart was not to forget her whom he had lost, but
only to give such respite to his sorrow that it might after-
wards gain greater strength. Then follows the passage
about the propitiation of the sea-god, first with nusa and
then with his mirror, which I quoted in a former chapter.
After many storms and delays they entered the Osaka river.
All the passengers, men, women, and children, were over-
joyed at reaching this point of their voyage, and clasped
their foreheads with their hands in ecstasies of delight.
Landing at Yaniazaki, our old aristocratic friend sent for his
bullock-cart from Kioto, as befitted a man of his rank, and on
its arrival started for the capital. He noticed the shops as
he went along, looking exactly as when he went away, and
wondered whether he would find as little change in the
hearts of his friends. By his own arrangement, he arrived
at his home by night : —

“The moon was shining brightly when I reached my
house and entered the gate, so that its condition was plainly
to be seen. It was decayed and ruined beyond all description
— worse even than I had been told. The heart of the man in
whose charge I had left it was in an equally dilapidated
condition. The fence between the two houses had been
broken down, so that both seemed but one, and he appeared
to have fulfilled his charge by looking in through the gaps.
And yet I had supplied him by every opportunity with the
means of keeping it in repair. To-night, however, I would
not allow him to be told this in an angry tone, but in spite of

ciiAr. til] language AND LITEHATUBE.

my vexation offered him an acknowledgment for his trouble.
There was in one place something like a pond where water
had collected in a hollow, by the side of which grew a fir-
tree. It had lost half its branches, and looked as if a thousand
years had passed during the five or six years of my absence.
Younger trees had grown up round it, and the whole place
was in a most neglected condition, so that every one said
that it was pitiful to see. Among other sad thoughts that
rose spontaneously to my mind was the memory— ah, how
sorrowful ! — of one who was born in this house, but who did
not return here along with me. My fellow-passengers were
chatting merrily with their children in their arms, hut I
meanwhile, still unable to contain my grief, privately re-
peated these lines to one who knew my heart. ... I cannot
write down all my many regrets and memories ; he it for
good or evil, here I will fling away my pen.”

So endeth the quaint and pleasant narrative of this charm-
ing old litterateur. His story is quoted by Mr. Aston as a
notable example of the truth of Buffon’s dictum that “ style
is everything.” Containing no striking adventures, wise
maxims, or novel information, possessing only the merit of
describing in simple yet elegant language the ordinary life
of a traveller in Japan in his day, its literary qualities have
gained it a high rank among the classics of his country, and
insured its being handed down to our own day as a most
esteemed model for composition in the native Japanese style.
Indeed, it established, conjointly with the author’s other
writings, a new style of composition, known as Nikki and
Kiko (literally, diaries and travels).

We have seen that in Tsurayuki’s day people spent much
of their spare time in composing poetical stanzas, and this
amusement is practised down to our own day. I have
brought with me from Japan numerous examples of short
compositions of this kind, executed for us by those with
whom we had the pleasure to associate in that country. The
governor of the ancient (now western) capital of Kioto, for
example, Mr. Makimura Masinao, wrote us two upon large
sheets of Kioto silk. One was written in connection with

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

a most delightful day spent in the midst of romantic
scenery, and, being translated, runs thus : —

“ Greeting a good guest with spring wine, mountains
and rivers all seem to participate in our delight ; ”

which, in English verse, might perhaps thus be rendered : —

Greeting a welcome guest in spring with wine,
Mountains and rivers share the joy divine.”

The other was designed to celebrate the mutual delight and
good-fellowship which men might feel though belonging to
separate and distant nations, and was thus translated : —

“ Let friends not stand upon ceremony among each
other, hut have joy, with the nations of the world, sitting
as it were together, and breathing the winds of spring.”

Poetry, or what is known in Japan as such, has been
composed there from the earliest days. It was originally
supposed to he delivered with clear intoned cadence, but
since the middle ages of Japan there have been two kinds,
one to he read and the other to he sung. The former kind
underwent great development. Verses were usually either
of five or of seven syllables in length, but others, of six and
of eight syllables, were sometimes composed. The length
of the stanza was not fixed, hut it most frequently con-
sisted in later times of thirty-one syllables. Poetry first
became a distinct art in Japan about the year 1000 a.d.
The various styles of poetry have been classed according to
six periods, hut their respective characteristics could not
he explained without a greater assignment of space to the
subject than I can afford. Sufiice it to say that Jaj>anese
poetry does not depend for its merits upon resemblances in
sound, nor upon quantity, nor upon rhyme. Its characteristic
is metre, and, as already intimated, its lines are alternately
of five and seven syllables in length ; all departures from
this are irregular, and in singing such departures are
eliminated.

Specimens of Japanese poetry have been handed down
from very early periods indeed. In the ‘ Philadelphia

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Exhibit ’ (so frequently adverted to by me) is given a brief
poem by a personage of the greatest dignity and antiquity
— no other than the god Susanoo, the unruly brother of the
sun-goddess. He had built a palace in Idzumo for himself
and wife to retire into after their marriage, and upon the
clouds gathering thickly about it he composed the following
lines : it will be observed that they consist of five, seven,
five, seven, and seven syllables respectively : — ^

“ Ya kumo ta tsu :

Idzumo ya-ye-gaki;

Tsuma-gomi ni
Ya-ye-gaki tsukum:

SoDo ya-ye-gaki wo ! ”

Of these lines Mr. Pfoundes gives the following translation: —

‘‘ Countless piling clouds
Idzumo’s rocky heights envelop;

My spouse there have I placed,

A fence around her raised,

My strong arm protects her.”

This is doubtless a very free translation, especially in the
last line. Mr. Aston gives the following, which is probably
a much more literal, although a less valorous, one : —

“ Many clouds arise :

The clouds which come forth are a manifold fence :

For the husband and wife to retire within.

They have formed a manifold fence:

0 that manifold fence ! ”

Whatever degree of faithfulness there may be in either
translation, it is satisfactory to find that Susanoo, however
badly he may have behaved to his sister, was a domestic
personage after all, or he would not have broken out into
poetry on finding himself so thoroughly shut in by cloud-
fencings with his wife Kushinada-himd.

Another very brief and much more curious poem has
come down from the divine age. This is the ‘‘ six-syllable
song or charm of numbers ” which I have adverted to in
the chapter on the God-period as having been sung by the

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

goddess Uzume during the enticement of the sun-goddess
from her cave. Printed in Koman letters it runs thus : —

‘‘ Hito futa miyo
Itsu muyu nana
Ya koko-no tari
Momo chi yorodzu.”

With a single exception, these words correspond exactly
with the Japanese words for the numbers one to ten, one
hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand, the exception
being tari for ten, instead of toro, the word actually used.*
But Mr. Satow points out that the words may he interpreted
in quite a different manner, which is probably the correct
one, the words employed being subsequently taken to stand
for numbers. The first line, interpreted according to its
sense, is, “ Men ! look at the lid ! ” which is equivalent for
“Gods! look at the cavern door!” the second is equivalent
to “ Majesty appears ! hurrah ! ” the third is readable as
“ Our hearts are quite satisfied,” and the fourth as “ Behold
my bosom and my limbs ! ”f In the chapter before referred
to it is said, the reader will remember, that Uzume got so
excited with her singing and dancing as to let her robe fall,
and it is this incident that is here alluded to. The whole
verse, therefore, runs thus : —

Gods ! look at the cavern door !

Majesty appears ! hurrah !

Our hearts are fully satisfied.

Behold my bosom and limbs ! ”

There is extant a collection of Japanese poems, called
Manyoshiu, dating from before the tenth century a.d., in
which, although Chinese characters are employed, the Ja-
panese sounds are rendered, the foreign characters being

* Thus;—

Hito-tsu .

. one

Nana tsu .

. seven

Futa .

. . two

Ya „ .

. eight

Mi .

. . three

Kokono ,,

. nine

Yo „ .

. four

Momo-chi .

. one hundred

Itsu „ .

five

Chi-dji .

one thousand

Mu „ .

. six

Yorodzii

ten ,,

t Literally “ thighs.”

CHAP. III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITER ATURE.

used phonetically only. Mr Aston gives the following-
translation of one of these : —

“ By the palace of Futagi,

Where our great king
And divine lord
Holds high rule,

Gentle is the rise of the hills,

Bearing hundreds of trees,

Pleasant is the murmur of the rapids,

As downward they rush.

So long as in the springtime,

(When the nightingale comes and sings)

On the rocks

Brocade-like flowers blossom.

Brightening the mountain foot;

So long as in the autumn
(When the stag calls to his mate)

The red leaves fall hither and thither.

Wounded by the showers —

The heaven be-clouding.

For many thousand years
May his life be prolonged
To rule over all under heaven
In the great palace
Destined to remain unchanged
For hundreds of ages.”

Those who are accustomed to reflect upon the subtle
delicacies of language in which much of the charm of true
poetry consists will know how impossible it is to convey in
a tongue so alien as is ours to the Japanese the qualities that
delight the native reader. The thought which a verse or a
poem expresses may doubtless be translated, but the subtle
sentiment and formless music of the original clings to it,
and is not susceptible of separation. This should not be
forgotten in reading such translations as I have quoted, or
may yet quote. And yet one cannot peruse lines like the
following translation by Mr. Aston of a dramatic passage
from a Japanese No (short dramatic sketch) without detect-
ing something of the charm of the original. The principal
personage of the piece having announced that he has been

VOL. II. F

JAPAN.

[cnAP. III.

commissioned by the emperor of China to spy out the
intelligence of the inhabitants of Japan, the chorus strikes
in and thus describes the voyage : —

“ Oaring forth his ship,

He would visit the land
Of the quarter
Of the rising sun,

Of the rising sun.

As she sails.

As she sails
Far over the wave-path
Of the eastern sea.

Behind her sets the sun.

O’er her is the void of heaven.

Where tlie cloud-banners

Are still bright with his radiance —

And now the moon comes forth ;

On the same quarter
Mountains are first descried;

Ere long

Even at the land of Japan
He hath arrived.

He hath arrived.”

It must be acknowledged that this description is vigor-
ously and nobly wrought.

Having requested Captain Brinkley to be so kind as to
favour me with translations of a brief specimen or two of
Japanese poetry, with the view of myself transforming
them into English verse, he was so obliging as to give
me the following seven short pieces. The gallant translator
has performed his part so well, and invested the citations
with so much grace and beauty, that it would be sinfully
presumptuous in me to touch them. I therefore — although
without his permission, I regret to say — give them as they
came from his pen : —

“ Destined at last to become part of the mighty ocean.

The valley runlet creeps yet a moment under the drooping
leafiets.”

“ To him that seeks the path of virtue Avith sincerity.

The guardianship of the gods comes unsolicited.”

ciiAr. III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITEBATURE.

“ Eain and rime, snow and hail, distinguish them ever so wisely.
Fallen, do they not all become the self-same river of the
valley ? ”

“ The storm that shreds the blossom tells the story of our lives ;
Inexorable towards all steals the season of decay.”

“ Fair as the blossom’s softly falling snowflakes
Is the quiet decay of a ripe old age.”

“ A peerless sage was wine to the sages of old.

Clearing from life the clouds of sorrow and dejection.

A draught loosed the tongue of converse and merriment,

A second wakened thoughts of the days that were no more.

And a third stirred the chords of poesy and song.

But now with the lust of liquor come dissension.

Ignorance, crime, and neglect of all time’s duties.

Making of life a dissolute sterility.

Blame we then the wine or the heart of the drinker ? ”

“Types of our children are the tiny grasses.

Tender and fragile in the ample moorland :

We know not to what fragrance their infant sprouts may
blossom.

Nor wist to what sweetness their unborn fruits may ripen.

But hoping ever wait till autumn tells their story.

Oh! cherished children, may ye never perish,

Flowerless, fruitless, in the early s]3ringtime,

Nor like this petal trampled by the wayside.

Fall in the fuller promise of your prime.”

These extracts are ample to show that the native litera-
ture of Japan contains much that is poetic in the true
sense of the word. Taking together the passages which I
have quoted, we have proof that it is notable for the com-
bination of manly power with feminine delicacy and beauty.
Nor is this surprising, for while literature is in the main
the profession of men in Japan, women have in various ages
achieved great distinction in it. Indeed, during the long
and repeated periods of civil war, when the men of Japan
were devoting themselves to mutual slaughter under am-
bitious leaders — as men have been too ready to do in other
ages and in other countries as well as in Japan — the women
of the land, to their enduring glory be it said, not only
sustained the literary art, but exalted it to a greater

r 2

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

eminence than that to which men had ever raised it. It is
considered by some, it will he remembered, that Hiyetano
Are, who committed the sacred Kojihi to memory, and
handed it down to all time, was a woman, and it was cer-
tainly during the reign and under the active patronage of a
woman that the work was accomplished. Speaking of the
time of Tsurayuki (our old friend the ex-governor of Tosa
a thousand years ago). Mr. Aston hears this most remark-
able testimony : “ The learned were at this time devoted to
the study of Chinese, and rarely composed in any other
language, whilst the cultivation of the Japanese language
was in a great measure abandoned to women. It is honour-
able to the women of Japan that they nobly discharged the
task which devolved upon them of maintaining the credit of
their native literature. I believe no parallel is to be found
in the history of European letters to the remarkable fact
that a very large proportion of the best writings of the best
age of Japanese literature was the work of women. The
Geiiji Monogatari, the acknowledged standard of the language
of the period to which it belongs, and the parent of the
Japanese novel, was written by a woman, as were also the
Ise Monogatari, the Mahnra Zoshi, and much of the poetry
of the time.” It is to these facts, probably, that we must
look for the origin of that delicacy of sentiment and ex-
pression, in a literary sense, which softens and adorns
nearly all that flows to us from classic Japanese literature
through the channels of translation. Nor are we without
testimony to its beauty from those who are familiar with it
in the original. “ It would be hard,” said Mr. Chamberlain
in a discussion at the Asiatic Society, “ in the mellifluous
classical language of Japan, to find one word which is less
euphonious than another : in that tongue, so different from
the semi-Chinese jargon of the present day, every syllable
is a delight to listen to.”

The gentleman just quoted, in an able paper read before
the society referred to, explained some curious elements in
Japanese literature which have been called “ pillow-words.”
These he considers to be, after the cadence of the alternat-

CHAP. III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

ing five- and seven-syllable lines, the chief characteristic of
the classical poetry of Japan. The pillow-words appear to he
words which once had a meaning, but which, having fallen
out of significance, are used for the succeeding significative
word to “ rest its head ” upon, so to speak. The “ pillow ”
for the verb to yearn, for example, is a word signifying ‘‘ in
the manner of a weeping infant.’’ The subject is too ab-
struse, however, to pursue here, although two native authors
record as many as six hundred and sixty-seven pillow- words,
and explain their use. Of examples of punning, or playing
upon words, which is also a common literary device in
Japan, Mr. Chamberlain gives, among others, this —

“Matsu ga ne no,

Matsu koto totiomi,” etc.,

which is nearly literally rendered into English, pun and
all, by

“ Like to the I must stand and pine.''’

Desiring to furnish my readers with a specimen of modern
Japanese modes of thought and expression, but dating from
before the invasion of our civilisation, I have searched for
a suitable example, and liave found it in the records of Com-
modore Perry’s expedition. A Chinaman, having embarked
from China in the American squadron when about to leave
for Japan, kept and afterwards published a journal of his
visit. While lying off Yokohama, a learned Japanese, among
others, visited the squadron, and inquired respecting the
troubles then existing in China. The Chinaman showed
him an account of the Chinese insurrection which he had
drawn up, and a book on the principles of good government.
These the Japanese gentleman borrowed, and afterwards re-
turned, together with a letter expressing his own opinion.
From that letter I take the following translated extracts,
observing that they were written at a time when the
country was, and had been for two centuries and a half
at least, completely closed to foreigners (excepting the
distant port of Nagasaki). The Japanese writes : —

“ As I have shut up your volume my feelings have found vent in
sighs. . . . The essential evil of such a state as China may be described

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

in a single phrase— it is the desire of gain. Now, the desire of gain is
common to all men, and is the pregnant womb of all evil. Confucius
seldom spoke of gain, wishing to check the lust of it* in its source.
This, also, was the reaseu why my ancestors cut oif all intercourse of
foreign nations with Japan, because the desire of gain led astray the
ignorant people, and wonderful arts in the investigation of principles
deceived the perverse, so that they got striving together, seeking gain
and hurrying aftef wdiat was wonderful, till filial duty, modesty, and
the sense of shame w^ere all forgotten. To a man who has reached
this stage of evil, neither his father nor his sovereign is anytliing.”

He goes on : —

“ The ^vays of Heaven are great. It nourishes all things in the
universe. Even among the dark countries who dw^ell by the icy sea,
there is not an individual wdio is not a child of Heaven and Earth —
not one who is not made to love his fellows, and be friendly with them.
On this account the sages embraced all men with a common benevolence,
without distinction of one from another. The principles for mutual
intercourse, all over the globe, are the same — propriety, comjilaisance,
good faith, and righteousness. By the observance of these a noble
liarmony is diffused, and the heart of Heaven and Earth is abundantly
displayed.

‘‘ If, on the contrary, commerce is conducted merely with a view to
gain, quarrels and litigations will spring from it, and it will prove a
curse instead of a blessing. Against such a result my ancestors w^re
profoundly anxious. Looking thus at the subject, the one topic of
intercourse, it is the means by wiiich the people exchange the com-
modities wiiich they have abundantly for those wiiich they have not,
and one nation succours the distress of another ; its propriety is ijlainly
indicated by Providence, and peace, liarmony, and good feeling are its
true result. Yet if gain — gain — be what is sought for by it, it will
only develoi3 the lusts and angry passions of men, and there will be a
melancholy termination to wiiat may be begun under good auspices.
It is but a hair’s-breadth which separates those different results ; for
give selfishness the reins, and righteousness is instantly merged in the
desire of gain. . . . God, by his spiritual pervasion, however, sees,
with a parent’s heart, how his children impose on and strive with
one another. Must he not be grieved? Must he not be moved
to pity? ”

Fine sentiments these ; often heard even in England — in
pulpits and on platforms; but what know we of them on
’Change or in the market-place ? Are these the principles of
our trade at Hong Kong, at Yokohama ? Let the benighted
Japanese dream on to his conclusion : —

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

“ But the world may be compared to a chess-board, and every nation
also. There cannot be wanting worthy princes and heroic lords.
Who is he that shall go before his fellows, whip in hand, to execute
the laws of Heaven ? [How Carlylean a philosopher have we here ! J
Now great changes are occurring. It is a time of revolution, when
every prince should set his heart to act in obedience to providence,
and labour for the good of his people. Y ou now live in a steamship
of the United States, and you wander over the seas. Have you seen
such a man as I indicate ? If you have not, I pray you, wherever
you go, to inculcate the principles I have stated on every sovereign
and ruler; so shall the wishes of Confucius and Mencius, so many
centuries after their time, be made to shine conspicuously in the
whole world.”

This man is, it seems to me, a fair specimen of the people
whom we insisted upon civilising !

The Chinese passenger who elicited the above statement
of principles from the Japanese gentleman tells us in his
journal that he was kept very busy in writing verses and
sentiments, upon fans chiefly, as souvenirs for his Japanese
acquaintances, they in return often presenting him with
like mementoes. One ofiicer gave him an ode which he had
written on New Year’s morn. It ran thus : —

“ The bear begins his course again ;

To me the world seems cold and vain.

Tsing Hok’s high aim my soul inspires;

But not in me are Woo-how’s fires.

With poet’s pencil in my hand.

And wine-cup near me on the stand,

I hear the willow rustling at my eaves.

And watch the opening of its eye-like leaves.”

The sad and modest contemplativeness of these lines must
strike the most prosaic of minds — if any such should venture
into this chapter. Another officer presented some lines on
spring : —

“ Last night among the flowers I walked and sang.

This morn again my voice in green woods rang.

Beyond men’s ken the way of God above.

But this spring greenery well proves his love.”

In response to this our Chinese friend felt impelled to

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

produce ‘‘something of the same kind,” and wrote some
lines commencing

0 face of spring, that now revisitest

The earth, my soul is stirred by thee to song,”

and ending as an English poet on the Thames would
probably have ended —

Where shall I go to taste the inspiring cup ?

I’ll row my boat to yonder clump of trees.”

One other extract from this Chinese eye-witness of Japan
in its pre-civilised days : “ The people are all Buddhists.
All about, on the hillsides and by the sea-shore, are images
of Buddha, and on most of their tombstones are engraven
some words from the ‘ Water-lily ’ classic. At the temple of
‘ Great Kepose ’ I saw people worshipping Buddha, without
either incense or lighted candles. When they had finished,
they put some money in a box, calling it ‘ let-go-life ’ money,
with reference to the Buddhist doctrine which forbids the
killing of animals. There -were two priests in the place,
who asked me to write some characters for them, on which,
struck by the scenery around, I wrote ‘ Encircling peaks,
girdling waters.’ They in return described their position
in the following lines : —

' Here in our little cells we sit,

Eound our inkstones the white clouds meet.

Mere dust to us is gold so rare.

The future gives us not a care.’

“ While I was sitting with them, there came a woman
to the temple to worship. The sight of her beauty greatly
stirred me : —

“ ‘ Her lips vermilion red, her teeth were white.

Her hair in clouds rose o’er her eyebrows bright.

In glittering headdress starlike was her sheen.

Or like the moon through plum-tree branches seen.’ ”

The following is the very important memorandum upon
the Japanese language by my friend Captain Brinkley, E.A.,
of Tokio, which I promised to append to this chapter : —

“ It may be roughly said that a Japanese must devote at least ten

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

years’ persistent and earnest study to the acquisition of his own lan-
guage if he desires to possess a knowledge of it sufficient for the pur-
poses of an educated man. The chief difficulty he has to encounter is
the caligraphy.

“ There are three Tarieties of character used in writicg : the square
(Kaisho), the running (Giyosho), and the free (Sosho).

The Kaisho may be called the parent character. It is the same as
that used in China, and though perfect familiarity with it will generally
render the Giyosho comprehensible, the same cannot be said of the
Sosho, which is a form so very rudimentary and incomplete that it
requires a separate and even more attentive study than either of its
confreres.

“ Assuming then five thousand as the number of these perplexing
hieroglyphics necessary for reading and waiting, it will be seen that
without attaching unjust difficulty to the differences of the three forms,
some twelve or thirteen thousand characters in all must be stored
away in the memory beyond the reach of time and the necessity ol
revision, before a Japanese can take his first untrammelled step in
pursuit of science.

Formerly in teaching these characters no attempt was ever made
to appeal to the pupil’s reason. For years his studies were confined to
a sort of " singing at sight ’ process, and it was not until constant
repetition and recitation of the notes uttered by his instructor had
enabled him to express the sounds of all the hieroglyphics in the
‘ Bible of obedience ’ and certain other Chinese classics that the
explanation of what he read began to form a factor in his education.
It may easily be imagined how little the reflective, and how largely
the mechanical, faculty was developed by this process, and indeed it
has been alw^ays found that the Japanese student’s acquisition of
western science is not a little impeded by too minute efforts of
memory, and such a bigoted worship of formula and rule that
originality and self-reliance cease to be serviceable items in his
intellectual repertoire.

“ The system pursued in the modern schools is in this respect
considerably improved. The ^ Kana,’ or Japanese syllabary, is first
taught. Of this there are two sorts : the ‘ Katakana,’ consisting of
48 symbols, and used only in conjunction with the square character
for explanatory purposes or to express grammatical terminations ; and
the ‘ Hiragana,’ also consisting of 48 primary characters, but number-
ing nearly 150, if varieties of form be included. The latter is very
extensively used. With the addition of some 500 'free’ or 'grass’
characters, it forms the syllabary employed by women, and in novels,
children's books, and all publications intended for circulation among
the illiterate classes it is used alone when sufficient, or with the
square character added where confusion of homonyms has to be

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

avoided. After he has mustered these syllabaries the child is trained
to recognise and write such easy and common words as are expressed
by single characters, the meaning as well as the sound being taught,
and subsequently he is introduced to books compiled on a progressive
system. No doubt the student’s difficulties are considerably smoothed
by this improvement of method, but still the fact remains that at the
age of thirteen or fourteen, when he has completed his curriculum at
a preparatory school, he must still devote at least five years to the
study of his own language before he can be qualified for any official
employment, or before he can aspire to even passable proficiency in
writing and composition.

It has been suggested that the characters might be more accessible
if acquired through the medium of the ‘ radicals,’ of which there are
246, classified according to the number of strokes (from 1 to 17)
employed in writing them. Every character is built up with one or
more radicals, and it certainly seems a more rational and thorough
method to make these the gradient of ascent to the characters than to
attack the latter in their unbroken entirety. Europeans have always
followed a system based upon this reasoning, but there might be a
little presumption in an attempt to substitute the analysis of any
novice, however scientific, for the experience of centuries.

The possibility of dispensing with the square character altogether,
and using only the Japanese syllabary, has often been discussed, and of
course there can be no second opinion as to the immense mental relief
such a change would afford the nation. But the question is one of
considerable difficulty. The ‘Kana’ would be amply sufficient to
express the sounds of the various words, but its unaided employment
would necessarily entail much confusion of homonyms, of which there
are a great number in the language. Cases where the context might
suffice to establish distinctions would also be rarer than in a European
language, for the character of the written style of Japan, as compared
with the spoken, is that in the former grammatical inflections and
syntactic particles are for the most part omitted, the result being a
sort of skeleton structure scarcely intelligible without the aid of the
eye as well as the ear. Thus the abolition of the Chinese symbols
would not only produce perplexity in particular instances, but also
entail a considerable general change in the construction of the language
for literary purposes. Nevertheless the attendant advantages seem
completely to outweigh the objections, and it may be confidently
predicted that until the burden of these multiform hieroglyphics shall
have been completely cast aside, Japan must ever be a laggard in the
pursuit of science. Probably she has already recognised this fact
herself, though the conviction is not yet strong enough to extinguish
her reverential love for those quaint monstrosities, in every one of
whose complicated strokes she discovers evidence of cultivated re-

CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

finement, and whose perfect forms are in her eyes the most consummate
creations of educated art.

“ For the rest, the language is by no means deficient in terseness or
power of expression. It has in Chinese a source upon which it can
always draw for supiilement or addition — a source quite as fertile as
the ancient classics are to our own language, and more accessible.
Thus it is generally possible by the aid of Chinese roots to construct
precise and compact equivalents for the terms employed in western
science, and since the restoration (1868) not only has a very large
number of such words been added to the vocabulary, but also the
classical tendency of public taste has brought into use a variety of
pithy and elegant forms of expression that would not have been
obtainable from Japanese proper. The want of a relative pronoun
occasionally produces involved and somewhat clumsy constructions,
and the liberality of the nation’s moral code is marked by a paucity,
or at times complete absence, of terms expressing the subtler dis-
tinctions of western metaphysics ; but on the whole, if only the terrible
blemish of its complex caligraphy were removed, there is no reason
why the language should not rank with the most euphonic and not
the least complete of our European tongues.”

The following is the memorandum of Mr. Hyde Clarke
upon the relations between the Japanese and African
tongues : —

“One reason why the comparative philology of the Japanese and
Loo-choo languages has given so much trouble to investigators is that
there are no longer any allied languages in the neighbouring regions.
The subject long since attracted my attention, but successive endea-
vours to obtain a solution were baffled. At an early period of these
researches I was aware of resemblances to the Dravidian languages of
India and to the Basque, but they afforded no decided results. The
first real step made by me was the discovery of relations between the
languages of the Japanese region and the Ashantee and others of
Western Africa. Such a connection seemed, however, very unpromis-
ing, because the ethnological differences between the Japanese and the
Western Africans are so very decided. It was, however, my duty to
register the results, awaiting the explanation. Although other in-
vestigations have occupied me, so that it has not been possible to work
out fully the Jaiianese problem, the area of observation is now deter-
mined for the language, the mythology, and even the ethnology.

“ These investigations are given in more detail in papers wfflich have
been this year given to the Anthropological Institute, the Philological
Society, and the Koyal Historical Society, and which are in continua-
tion of my books and papers on Prehistoric and Protohistoric Com-
parative Philology and Mythology and on Krita-Peruvian. These

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

labours have been directed to the explanation of the position of the
races of early culture, the Abkad-Babylonians, the Egyptians, Lydians,
Etruscans, the founders of the Chinese and Japanese empires, and also
those of the North American mounds and monuments of the civilisa-
tion of Mexico and Peru.

In carrying out this undertaking it was necessary for me on ethno-
logical grounds to distinguish a white race earlier in the field of history
than the Aryans. Lately it has seemed most consistent with the
course of historical events, and in conformity with all the incidents, to
look for the seat of this Turanian white race in High Africa, in regions
as healthy as those of High Asia, from which the Aryan migrations
are held to have proceeded.

The first conquests of these Turano- Africans were evidently made
in Central Africa, because the languages of all the leading states and
nations, Pulo, Bornu, Mandenga, etc., afi’ord to this day the identical
words of the early dead languages, as well as of those living languages
that are considered to be allied with them. Thus the Abkad words
in the vocabularies of M. Lenormant will be found, and also the Ugro-
Altaic illustrations.

It was also from the West African regions that migrations were
made to North, Central, and South America, in continuation of earlier
migrations. So to this standard are brought the languages and
mythology of America. If a linguistic map be made down of this
Atlantic hemisphere, then the languages of America will be found to
converge towards West Africa, and from that point the living and
dead languages spread out again. As to the mythology and also
language, a monograph will be found in my memoir on Siva and
Serpent-worship, founded on the Bribi i and other languages of Central
America.

“ That the Egyptian language and civilisation had the same origin
is evident from the fact that the Egyptian and Coptic words (and also
those of the allied language of the Ude of the Caucasus *) are found on
the same area. This has been long looked for on the supposition that
the Egyptians propagated culture in Africa, whereas the reverse was
the case. The researches have not, however, borne full fruit, as they
were not rightly directed. Leo Eeinisch,t in attempting to establish
a Tibbu or Teda origin, has supplied a mass of matter on the relations
between Egyptian and the languages of West, Central, and South
Africa. Professor Owen is decidedly of opinion that the early ruling-
race in Egypt was of a high type.

“The tide of migration and conquest flowed to Babylonia. As

* See my ‘ Comparative Philology f ‘ einlieitliclic Urspriing der
of Egyptian, Coptic, and Udc’ (Lon- Sprachcn der Altenwelt’ (Wien,
don, Triibner). 1873).

CHAP. III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

already stated, the language is of the Turano-African class. The
same is to he said for the early occupants of Asia Minor, Syria,
Greece, Italy, and Spain.

“ With regard to India, the Naga languages now spoken by inferior
hill-tribes belong to the class cited, and in sequence to them are the
Kolarian languages and the Dra vidian. So close does the Kolarian
come to one African type that the Mundala dialect of the Kol has
been traced by me word for word with the Houssa of Africa to a
great extent.

The fall of these Turano-African empires in succession, and over a
long epoch, completely altered the condition of mankind. The dawn
of history shows us the Semites first, and the Aryans afterwards, engaged
in this task. Syria and Babylonia were conquered by the Semites,
while the Aryans became masters of Greece, Italy, and Spain at a later
period, and then of Asia Minor and Greece, and afterwards of India.

The Egyptians, profiting by the w^eakness of their masters, estab-
lished their own government. Ethiopia lingered, but the African
states must early have fallen into the possession of the black natives,
however long white dynasties continued to reign.

“ The knowledge of ascertained historical events and of actual facts
prepares us to apply this knowledge to the case of the Japanese. The
conquerors of the islands were of the same class as the other con-
querors, and they found a local population of one or more races. At
that distance from their centre, and consisting of bands of seamen and
soldiers, gradually recruited, they would have few women of their own
kin, and would intermarry with the natives. In time the ruling caste
would cease to be separate from the main body of the people.

“ What the conquerors and founders of the Japanese language and
mythology were will be found from the comi^arative table of words
herewith given.* These are far from complete, as the labours imposed
by the main inquiry have not allowed me to devote a special attention
to the Japanese braneh.

“ Whoever will take the trouble to look at these records philoso-
phically and statistically will find guiding facts. He cannot fail to
discern that there are resemblances and identities in the African
column. He will further find that these are not casual, as the same
names of African dialects constantly recur.

“ With regard to the illustrations from Indian and other languages,
they are less striking, and for this reason, that the languages are
better and more copiously preserved in Africa than elsewhere. For
instance, in Northern India the Aryans have established their lan-
guages among the main populations, and driven the non-Aryan-
speaking tribes to the hills.

* See Appendix.

JAPAN.

[chap. III.

“ The incidence of language like that of mythology is altogether
apart from that of race, and we have white, brown, and black men
speaking allied languages, just as we find white, brown, and black
Christians and Mussulmans.

“ With regard to the relationship of the languages, it is to be explained
that in the Turano-African class it is very different from the Indo-
European. What we call Indo-European languages are very much
alike in w’ords and grammar. It is true that some words are not of
the same stock, but still any two languages are very much alike.

“ This is by no means so in Turano-African. Indeed an example,
which belongs to this class, shows it. The Ugro-Altaic languages
are placed together by philolog^ists, and their grammatical characters
have the strongest resemblance, but the Magyar and the Turk, for
instance, have little community of words. When a comparison is
made of Abkad with Ugro-Altaic, the words will mostly agree with
the Ugrian portion, and not with the others. Nevertheless Abkad
is not Ugrian.

“ We have to contemplate a class of languages consisting of various
groups, say A, B, C, D. If we take a language, say Japanese, and
compare it with A, we shall find only a partial resemblance, and
so with B, C, and B, but it is equal to A, B, C, D, and so with Abkad
or Cojitic. There are similar variations of grammatical forms. Our
comparison has to be made with the whole class in order to determine
the classification. On being put to this test, Japanese is distinctly
Turano-African.

“ It consequently belongs to the epoch of early culture, earlier than
that which we understand as the Babylonian, and in wdiich language,
characters, mythology, astronomy, geology, and it may be said
geography, were determined.

“ With regard to the ethnology of the Japanese populations, it is more
obscure. The language of the Ainos is not indigenous, but is to be
traced to the general stock of languages, and its analogies are to
be found in Africa.

In Africa, more distinctly than anywhere else, is to be found the
ethnological characteristic of short races. These short races are in
linguistic communion with other short races. The language of the
Great Andaman Islanders has been positively identified by me as
having African affinities.

“ The best explanation that can at present be proposed is that the
Japanese islands were occupied by the migrations of the short races.
These were subjected by a subsequent migration of the white Turano-
Africans, who intermarried with the native women. This would
produce a mixed race, differing again from the races of shorter
aborigines. Thus the new dominating Japanese race would maintain
and propagate their dialect of the language and their sect of the

CHAP. III.]

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

religion, and, being in more favourable conditions, would displace the
pure natives.

“ When the Pacific route to America was closed by the weakness
of the Turano- Africans, and the rising of cannibals and other savages,
the Japanese would be isolated on their east. On their west, the
Turano-African dynasties in China and Korea fell, and were replaced
by natives, the same kind or series of events taking place as in
Egypt, and again in Peru and Mexico.

Japan was isolated from the other states, and in time various
ethnological, mythological, and political conditions were established,
making the distinctions successively more marked.

The Japanese language, however, appears to have been less affected
by these changes than Egyptian or Chinese.

“ The tables given in an Appendix show some comparisons of Japanese
with African languages, and with others, chiefly of the Indian region.”

JAPANESE JENKS.

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

CHAPTEE IV.

DRAWING AND PAINTING.

Our opportunities of studying Japanese art — Temple art treasures — Studies
in Kioto — Artistic seances — Foreign derivation of the art — Government
patronage— Early artists of distinction— Kano and his school — The
Toho school — Ohio and the Shiyo Kin— Hokusai, the Japanese Hogarth
— The schools” of Japan — Professor Anderson upon Japanese design,
composition, drawing, perspective, chiaroscuro, and colour — The beauty
of the human form not duly appreciated in Japan — Sir Eutherford
Alcock on Japanese art — Frequent recurrence of pictorial subjects —
Legend of the cuckoo and the moon — Anticipated progress of the
Japanese in European art styles — Their technical mastery.

•

If the inspection of Japanese drawings and paintings of
every age and every description qualified one for writing
•upon this subject, or even if adding to this inspection the
repeated expositions of those who have studied it, and fre-
quent witnessings of the exercise of the art, fitted one to
speak with confidence upon it, then might I enter upon this
chapter with a very considerable amount of assurance. For
in the three months spent in the country we had extraordi-
nary and multiplied facilities for examining examples of the
works of every age since drawing and painting began to be
practised in Japan, and saw many works of eminent artists
produced in the capitals and other places. In addition to
our visits to the most ancient temples, in some of which the
very earliest works are preserved, we had repeated oppor-
tunities of leisurely inspecting the old temple treasuries of
art, usually kept in the priests’ residences, in which some of
the choicest products of thirteen hundred years of art-
production are kept with sacred care. On one occasion
during our stay in the western capital (Kioto) we were so

CHAP. IV.]

BRA WING AND PAINTING.

fortunate as to be taken to the store-rooms of an art- exhi-
bition then in course of formation, and there inspected a
collection of drawings and paintings brought together from
the principal temples throughout the land. In addition to
a large number of most precious Japanese works, we had
the advantage on that occasion of seeing many ancient
paintings brought from China by the Buddhist clergy of
various periods. Besides these choice possessions of the
temples, we likewise saw the imperial palaces at Kioto and
Nagoya, where are some of the most perfect and charac-
teristic paintings ever produced in the country — in addition
to carved work, which, I may say incidentally, at Nagoya
far surpassed any that I elsewhere came across, and which
w^as inferior in no respect, I believe, to the work of Grinling
Gibbons, while to a European eye the subjects were often
quaint and novel to the last degree. Further, we had oppor-
tunities of inspecting valuable private collections; and as
the habit of frequently changing the Jccd'emono * prevails in
Japan, a large number of the best examples that could be
put before us passed under our view. Our host. Admiral
Kawamura, was particularly thoughtful and obliging in this
way, having the walls not only of his reception rooms, but
of our private apartments likewise, hung with a constant
succession of works of the highest class, sometimes ancient
and sometimes modern. The governor of Kioto was equally
kind, having the walls of the temple-residence in which we
stayed hung almost daily with a succession of the finest
examples of art which that ancient city contains. Nor was
this the case as regards kakemono only in Kioto, for the
same thing took place with respect to the screens which
are so largely used in Japan, and which were continually
changed, choice and fresh drawings, paintings, brocades,
and embroideries on silk thus passing daily under our eyes.
The like attention and complimentary care were shown also
by the courteous governor in respect of other works of art.

* Hanging pictures mounted on rollers — the almost universal form of
wall-pictures in Japan.

VOL. II.

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

including galcumono* lacquers, bronzes, ivory carvings,
cloisonne ware, fans, silks, and other of the best productions
of the long-sacred but now busily commercial city. But
we had yet another and very valuable opportunity of study-
ing both ancient and modern Japanese pictures, one afforded
to us by Professor Anderson, the director of the Medical
College at Tokio, who has made a close study of this branch
of art during his residence in that city. Professor Anderson
has collected there a number of highly characteristic draw-
ings and paintings, and w^as engaged in preparing a paper
— and if I remember rightly a book — upon the subject.
Besides showing us his collection, and explaining the
various merits and demerits of the pictures, he was good
enough to furnish me with some historic and critical notes,
of which, with his permission, I propose to avail myself
freely in what follows.!

The above opportunities, numerous and invaluable as they
■were, were not, however, our only means of studying the art
of Japan as now practised. By the kindness of Admiral
Kawamura and his friends, we were favoured with repeated
seances with eminent living artists, and witnessed the draw-
ing and painting of many pictures, not a few of which were
subsequently presented to me. These seances occurred both
in the capital and in country cities and towns, as we found
leisure in travelling through the interior. It would be diffi-
cult to exaggerate the interest and pleasure of these occasions,
the artists ranging from sketches of the boldest character
executed in the most rapid manner, to works of minute and
painstaking detail, growing up under the hand of the artist
with all the sincerity and much of the beauty of natural
objects. Nor did we fail to see a large amount of amateur
drawing performed, skill with the brush being no uncommon

* Pictures mounted ou rolls to be
viewed in detail as they are unrolled
by baud.

t By the courtesy of Professor
Anderson I came into possession
of an excellent coi)v of Hokusai’s

celebrated sketches in many volumes,
from whicli the great bulk of all
European illustrations of Japanese
drawing has been deiived. This
work is now' becoming rare, and
difficult to obtain.

CRAP. IV.]

DB AWING AND PAINTING.

accomplishment among both the ladies and gentlemen of
this “ nation of artists.”

Although the rise of the pictorial arts of Japan is lost in
the distance of tradition, and although it is not solely a
mere imitation of the art of China or Korea, it is not denied
that it was originally derived from foreigners. So long ago
as the year 463 a.d. the emperor Yariaku, who did so much
in the way of bringing skilled and instructed foreigners
into Japan, likewise brought over from Kudara, in Korea, a
band of artists among whom was one whose name, Inshiraga,
has been preserved. Others followed from time to time ; and
although it is not possible to affirm with certainty that any
of their works have descended to us, there is great reason to
believe that certain portraits, etc., which were shown to us
in the ancient temple of Horiuji (between Osaka and Kara)
were the productions of the famous Prince Shotoku-taishi, or
at least of his age, he being the son of the empress Suiko,
who reigned at the end of the sixth and the beginning of
the seventh century.* It is recorded that during the reign
of this empress, one Doncho, a very learned priest and a
painter of great merit, was sent by the state of Koma, in
Korea, to promote the interests of the Buddhist faith, then
making its conquest of Japan. The art had so far pro-
gressed at the opening of the eighth century that the govern-
ment had established a painting department, comprising
several artists, and as many as sixty secondary artists or
sketchers. Early in the ninth century this department was
merged in the architectural department, and the work of
the artists and their staff was probably purely that of
decorating the imperial palace, etc. Keligious art, so ‘to
speak, was at this time, however, firmly established, and
many pictures were brought over from China by the priest

* The native authority says :
“ Les oeuvres de cette epoque [fiftli
century] ne sont pas parvenues
jusqua nouSj et le q)lus uncien
tableau que nous possedions represente
le prince Shd-toku-taishi. Ce tableau.

ex^cuM sous le regne de Vimp^ratrice
Suilco, au commencement du vii^'
siecle, est precieusement conserve dans
le temple de Uoriuji, situe dans la
'province de Yamato.’’'

G 2

JAPAN.

[OHAP. IV.

Knkai (Kobodaishi), to whose learning and services I have
before referred in the chapter on Buddhism. Kobodaishi is
said to have painted many Buddhist pictures, together with
a portrait of himself. But the first Japanese artist well
worthy of the name was Kose no Kanaoke, a court noble,
who flourished during the second half of this century (the
ninth). He was a pupil of a Chinese (Gokiyoshi), of whom
we know nothing but his name. Kanaoke, whose name is
a household word in educated Japan, painted landscapes,
animals, portraits, and Buddhist pictures with remarkable
skill, and is the subject of many curious legends. Some of
his works are still in existence, and are thought to justify
the esteem in which he is held ; one, a portrait of the
Buddhist deity Fudo,* is to be seen in the temple of Haiyo-
ji, Tokio. It is distinguished hy great ease and vigour of
outline, and compares favourably with some of the efforts
of the early Italian masters. The descendants of Kanaoke
maintained his reputation for several generations at the
court of Kioto,

Toba Sojo, a high- rank priest of the Tendai sect of Bud-
dhists, distinguished himself as an original and skilful artist
in the eleventh century. Toba was a humourist, and his
sketches gave the name to all later caricatures, which are
still called Tobaye. The productions of his successors and
imitators are too ill-drawn to deserve serious artistic criti-
cism, besides which the wit which has inspired them is too
Babelaisian to allow their reproduction in the present age.
Other names that have lived became distinguished in the
next century or two ; among them several members of the
otherwise renowned Fujiwara family. There were Fujiwara
Mototsune, Fujiwara Nobuzane, and Fujiwara Tsunetaku, the
grandson of Fujiwara Takayoshi. Tsunetaku, in addition to

* Mr. Pfoundes says that this idol and in the left a coil of rope to tie np

is generally seated, and always the guilty. He would therefore have

surrounded with flames, holding a been a suitable illustration of the

naked sword in the right hand, theology of some so-called Christians

with which to punish wicked and not very many years ago.

territled humanity into obedience,

CHAP. IV.]

DBA WINO AND FAINTING.

becoming celebrated as a court j>ainter, became vice-governor
of the province of Tosa, and his descendants therefore
adopted Tosa as the family name. The first to adopt it was
Fujiwara Mitsimobu (the fourth in descent from Tsunetaku),
who is looked upon as the real founder of w^hat is known
as the Tosa School, or Tosa Riu. This branch of art was
employed to delineate the nobles of the court in their
ceremonial dresses, and other like subjects. It was a less
vigorous style than that which went before it, but was not
deficient of a certain sort of beauty, and was particularly
noted for the fineness of its strokes. The school has lasted
for five hundred years ; but in 1662, Hiromochi, one of the
descendants of Tosa, changed the family name to Sumiyoshi,
and under that name the Tosa family of artists have con-
tinued down to our own day.

A native writer says : “ During the middle ages, from
1305 to 1349, Kao, Meicho, Josetsu, Shiubun, and others
appeared, who studied the style of the Chinese dynasties
of So and Gen. This style is noted for its sketchy
character, confining itself to making, by means of a few
hasty strokes, a mere approximate outline of the object
delineated.” Professor Anderson puts the case somewhat
differently in his notes. He says : “ In the fourteenth
century, a period of art decadence was terminated by a
priest named Josetsu, a native of Korea (he is claimed by
some authorities, however, as Japanese), who founded a school
which boasted among its alumni three of the great names
of the art history of Japan, Sesshiu, Shiubun, and Kano
Masanobu. Little or nothing is known however of Josetsu
himself. Chodensu, a monk, the most distinguished repre-
sentative of religious art, was a contemporary of his.
Sesshiu completed his education in China,” where, during
the Min dynasty, he is said to have attained great fame,
“ and on his return painted many remarkable landscapes,
chiefly depicting views in the Celestial Land. Some of his
most valued works were produced after the age of eighty.
Several of his pupils gained great renown.”

Kano Masanobu, whose name Professor Anderson mentions

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

above, and who was of the province of Sagami, bad a son,
Kano Motonobu, who achieved great fame as an artist, and
holds probably the first place in the estimation of native
connoisseurs. He founded the most prolific school of Japanese
art, and his descendants, like those of Sumiyoshi, continue
to practise the profession at the present day. I have in my
possession several pictures painted by a member of the Kano
family during my visit to Japan, and presented to me by
Admiral Kawamura. No one could fail to discern in them
merit of a very high order, or to derive great pleasure from
them.* Professor Anderson says of the pictures of Motonobu,
the founder of the Kano School : “ Even to the eye of a
foreigner the vigour of design and the complete mastery
of the brush displayed in his paintings of landscape and
figures appear very extraordinary.” Of his descendants the
best known are Kano Tanyu (sixteenth century) and Tsune-
nobu (seventeenth century). Towards the end of the six-
teenth century, Iwasa Matabe took up the Tosa style, and
delineated the customs of his age.

In the latter part of the seventeenth century a pupil of
the Kano family, named Hanabusa Icho, distinguished him-
self by displaying much original genius. Casting aside the
traditions of his youth and training, he struck out a new
line for himself, and took scenes of ordinary street life,
and more especially such as were humorous, as the subjects
of his art. “ His drawings show little attention to details
of form or colour, but are novel in design and forcible in
outline ” (Anderson). His most noted follower was Ippo.
Between 1688 and 1703, Hishagawa Moronobu, of Yedo,f
did much to render the Matabe style popular. Professor
Anderson says “ he is considered the inventor of the Ukiijo~ye,''
(or “ social pictures”), “but in reality the credit should be

* A native writer said last year
(1878) : “ Les families de Kano et de
Tosa existent encore aujourd'Tiui, et
comptent dans leurs rangs des peintres
de merite,”

t Mr. Yosino speaks of him as of
Yedo ; Professor Andersoii calls him

“ a native of Kioto.” While the
latter authority speaks of him, as
the text shows, as the inventor of
the Ukiyo-ye, a native authority
speaks of him as the founder of the
Utagawa style.

CHAP. IV.]

DBAWINQ AND PAINTING.

shared with Icho.” Mr. Yosino and other native authorities,
however, state of Matabe, who was earlier by a century, that
his jiroductions are generally known as Z77ayo-ye,’’
say that Hishagawa Moronohu’s distinction is that of
rendering popular the style of Matabe, as I have already
said. Torii Kiyoinitsu, Okuda Masanobu, and other artists
also distinguished themselves in the practice of this style.

Early in the eighteenth century (about 1720) a celebrated
Chinese painter, named Chin-nam-ping, went to Nagasaki,
acquired a great reputation, and taught many pupils. Other
countrymen of his followed (Chinumei, Shahuson, and others),
and Chinese painting again became the fashion, and spread
itself throughout the country. But towards the end of
that (the last) century, two contemporary Japanese painters
exhibited so much originality and power as to give a fresh
start to Japanese art, and upon a direction tending farther
than ever from the traditions of the schools. These were
Maruyama Okio and Katzushika Hokusai. These great
artists indulged in more direct reference to nature than
any of their predecessors. Of Okio Professor Anderson says
he only partially carried out his principles ; and although
the Shiyo Eiu, founded by him,* has had many followers, it
has not succeeded in diminishing the influence of the Chinese
style and its modifications. Of Hokusai, who did not emerge
from obscurity till rather late in life, he says that he was
the first lieimin (commoner) of Japan who made for himself
a name in art, and this his genius enabled him to do in spite
of the neglect and professed contempt of those who con-
sidered themselves the best judges ; “ but he alone under-
stood the JJhiyo-tje, and the multitude of admirers he found
in his own class consoled him, if he needed consolation, for
hi's seclusion from the select artistic circles.” Hokusai has

* “ His most noted pupil was Grenki.
In more recent times, an offshoot of
the school, named Hikuchi Yosai,
rose into notice, but the art-critics
did not know whether or not to
atlmiro his free unconventional
outlines, which, although expressing

admirably the intentions of the
artist, were at variance with all
the revered examples of past ages.
The Zenken-no-jitsu, in twenty
volumes, gives the best example of
his style.” — Anderson’s MS. notes.

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

left but few of his drawings behind him, owing to the fact
that he devoted himself mainly to sketching on wood for
the engraver ; hut his thirty well-filled volumes of engraved
sketches are a worthy memorial of his powers. He excelled
in drawings illustrative of the life of people in the field and
street, giving the comic more often than the tragic, or the
neutral, aspect of things ; but he sometimes applied himself
with success to historical and religious subjects. His works
have been so often copied by strangers that it is chiefly
from them that foreigners have derived their ideas of
Japanese pictorial art. Hokusai had both rivals and pupils,
but none who has eclipsed his name and fame. A hundred
other names of note in Japanese art might be given — names
more readily recognised by the average Japanese than those
of Eeynolds and Hogarth by the average Englishman ; but
the above will suffice for my purpose.

I have said that it is largely from such sketches as those
of Hokusai that foreigners have derived their ideas of
Japanese pictorial art, and in this fact I have virtually
stated that their ideas of that art are extremely narrow
and mistaken. The style copied is no doubt both original
and characteristic in a high degree, as was that of John
Leech, for example, among ourselves ; but no one would
think of judging English art by the works of Leech, and no
one should think of judging that of Japan by the works
of Hokusai. The historical sketch that I have given above
shows that the Uhiyo~ye, or popular art, is comparatively in
point of time, and essentially in point of form, modern, and
no sort of justice to Japanese art can be done by those
who limit their attention to its delineations. For this reason
works like that of Sir Eutherford Alcock (‘ Art and Art
Industries of Japan ’), in which nearly all the illustrations
of pictorial art are derived from the one source, must not
for a moment he considered to present a fair general view
of the characteristics of Japanese drawing and painting.*

* I am told that a similar remark Japan,’ but that ^York I myself have
would apply to Mr. Jarves’s Ameri- not seen,
can book, ‘ A Glimpse at the Art of

CHAP. IV.]

DBA WING AND FAINTING.

Nor, if that were otherwise, is any sort of justice usually
clone in such works by the English engravers to the delicacy
and beauty of the Japanese originals which they profess to
copy. I have compared many such professed copies wuth
Hokusai’s original engravings, and am obliged to say that
they can only be considered as coarse and rude reminis-
cences of the work that left the hands of the Japanese
artists. The meaning of the sketches is also, I am told,
often misinterpreted. I have had a few engravings copied
by Japanese engravers from Hokusai for this work.

The schools or styles of Japanese pictorial art may be
summarised as follows : 1. Korai Riu, or Korean School,
which was the first introduced into Japan, as we have seen,
and which resembles the Chinese School in all essential
particulars. 2. Kara Biu, or Chinese School proper, which
has been subdivided into periods from the To * (in Chinese,
Tang) to the Sei (Tsing) dynasty, and into three styles
which may he compared in execution to the square, cursive,
and intermediate characters in caligraphy. This Kara Biu
is, beyond doubt, the true parent of Japanese pictorial art,
the Korean School, although arriving first in the country,
being but an offshoot from the Chinese. The Kara Biu
was largely taught — chiefly during the Sung and Min
dynasties — by Chinese immigrants, and by Japanese who
had been to China to study art. “ Until the time of Okio,
at the end of the last century, Japanese painters adhered so
closely to the rules framed by the Chinese schools, and
commonly even to the subjects in vogue with Chinese
artists, that Japanese art was entitled only to rank as a
branch of the other school ; the only exceptions are found
in the works of Icho and Hishigawa Moronohu, and even
their productions scarcely merit the name of original art ”
(Anderson). Desirous as I am to do justice to the Japanese,
I am hound to say that injustice is often done to the Chi-
nese in works upon Japanese art by foreign writers. The

* To (Tang) is the name of the To has come to be generally used in
dynasty which governed China from Japan for China and the Chinese.
618 to 906 of our era; but the word To-jinis a Chinaman.

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

Japanese themselves, as I have elsewhere remarked, are
always ready to hear the fullest testimony to the advantages
derived by Japan from China and Korea through many
centuries, and in many branches of art and industry. But
foreigners who visit Japan appear to fall so completely under
the spell of the land and of the people — and fascinating both
certainly are — that they fail to see what is original and what
is derivative in that which they behold. But in fairness to
China it must he acknowledged, and by the Japanese is
acknowledged, that much of that “ grace of outline, freedom
of stroke, and delicacy of colouring ” which characterise
Japanese art, and constitute no small part of its charm, is
drawn from the art of China. I have had, as stated earlier
in this chapter, rare opportunities for comparing Chinese
paintings of the Min period still preserved in Japan with
those of various Japanese masters, and I greatly doubt if
Sir Eutherford Alcock or Mr. Jarves, or any other writer
who may have exhibited a tendency to undervalue the art of
China, would he able to separate them with certainty into
their respective schools. 3. Kanaoha Riu^ founded in the
ninth century by Kose no Kanaoka, as previously stated,
and continued by his family for many generations. 4.
Talcuina Biu. This was an adaptation in the early part of
the thirteenth century of the existing rules of Chinese art
to the representation of Japanese court ceremonials, etc., and
although exhibiting skill in its way was devoid of any
great artistic merits. 5. Toha-ye, originated as already
described in this chapter. All roughly drawn caricatures
are still known as Toha-ye, hut Toba Sojo does not appear
to have been succeeded by artists at all comparable with
himself. A later form of caricature, originated by Iw^asa
Mitahe, and first sold at the ancient city of Otsu, derived its
name from that place, and became known as, 6, Otsu-ye.*
Of 7, Josetsu Bill, nothing need be added to what has already
been said, hut of the school founded by Josetsu’s pupil Ses-

* “No artists of note contributed to present found in Kioto, Osaka, and
maintain the reputation made by the other places are scarcely wortliy of
founder, and the ‘ Otsu-ye ’ as at notice.” — Anderson.

CHAP. IV.]

DRAWING AND FAINTING.

sliiu, 8. Sesshiu Biu, I must quote a few words : “ Sessliiu,
after studying in China, became one of the greatest artists
of Japan. His most noted pupils were Shingetsu and
Sesson, but many well-known painters belonged to his
school. The Sesshiu Kin so closely resembled the Kara Kiu,
that it was probably only the celebrity of Sesshiu that gave
the school a distinctive title. One of his descendants living
in the last century maintained that the Japanese art of his
period was as much Kara-ye as that of modern Chinese
painters, both being drawn from the same source, and more
or less modified by individual artists ” (Anderson). Of 9,
Tosa Biu, it is needless to add to what has been said,
beyond observing that, while it afforded considerable display
for colouring, its merit inclined to decorative rather than to
imaginative or truthful art. 10. Kano Biu, the best-known
and most influential of all the native schools, and coming
down, as we have seen, from the fifteenth century to our own
day. 11. IcJio Biu, and 12, Ukiyo ye, already described.
The latter name I have rendered as “ social pictures by
others it is sometimes rendered ‘‘ worldly pictures.” It
literally means, I am told, “ floating world,” and implies
that the subjects are taken from actual life, in distinction
from the favourite Buddhistic and legendary motives of the
older schools. ‘‘ The TJhiyo-ye may be divided into two
sections, an order to which belong Hishigawa Moronobu and
his followers, and a modern phase of which Hokusai is the
presiding genius.” The pictures of Hishigawa Moronobu,
not unlike those of the Tosa Kiu in style, represent a less
characteristic phase of* Japanese life than those of Hokusai,
and are less spirited and truthful. The later IJldyo-ye is
best exemplified in the Hokusai Mangua, and the Wciyo
Guafu by Keisai Hiroshige. More may be learned of the
true nature of the Japanese masses from a study of these
marvellous collections of sketches than from a library of
the descriptions of the country found in Europe, but it
is necessary that every page should be explained by a
Japanese, and perhaps by a Japanese heimin, one of the
class for whom the work was composed ” (Anderson).

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

13. Shnjo Riu. This school was founded, as previously
stated, by Ohio, and was characterised by a more direct and
loyal resort to nature than his predecessors had allowed
themselves ; but the influence of Chinese principles aud
methods were too strong even for him, and he was not
successful in inspiring his pupils even with the same
amount of devotion to nature as animated himself. 14.
Butsu-ye, or Buddhist paintings. The first paintings
known in Japan were of this kind, and, although the style
was imported from Korea, it is probably of Indian rather
than of Chinese origin. This branch of art bears close and
curious analogies to the early religious art of Europe, both
being practised chiefly by monks, and both exhibiting much
bright and decorative colouring, with a free use of gold in
the display of saintly forms and glorifications. Lastly,
Bunyi-re, an unimportant but common style of painting,
employed for the illustration of poetry, most frequently by
noble amateurs.

The practice of painting in Chinese (or “Indian”) ink is
exceedingly common in Japan, and this form of art is desig-
nated Siunie. Originally this prevailed only among poets
and literary persons, and had, says a native writer, “ pour
caractm'e distinctif le bon gout.” He goes on to say : “ Les
peintres qui ont ensuite imite ce genre de peinture ont
quelquefois voulu representer sous une forme legm'e une idee
serieuse, et ont suppled ]}arfois aux imperfections de I’esquisse
par des strophes de poesie. Les regies relatives a ce genre
sont pen nombreuses et vagues ; mais, bien que les traits en
soient vigoureux et hardis, on y retrouve pourtant certains
petits details. Les sujets favoris des peintres de ce genre
sont les sites pittoresques, les montagnes abruptes, les rochers
escarpes, etc. ; ils transportent, pour ainsi dire, par I’imagi-
nation, le spectateur sur les lieux memes.” One would scarcely
have supposed that these last observations were specially
applicable to Indian-ink drawings ; but there they are, in
an official record, and they must be taken as the expression
of the opinion of the native writer.

Anticipating that my own opinion of Japanese art would

CHAP. IV.]

DBA WING AND PAINTING.

carry but little weight with it, and nevertheless desiring to
include in this work some statement of its characteristics
that would he valuable to my readers, I obtained from my
friend, upon whose kindness I have already so frequently
drawn in this chapter, Professor Anderson, the following
summary of his conclusions : —

“ Originalitij of design. — Not strongly marked until
within the last two hundred years, most of the older pic-
tures being variations of Chinese models. Wit of a high
form is perceptible even to the foreign eye in many
draAvings of the Toba-ye and Ukiyo-ye.

Comioosition. — Nearly always good, the grouping of
figures and accessories contributing as far as possible to
tell the tale and to please the eye.

“ Draiving. — Almost invariably conventional. Excellent
in birds, flowers, monkeys, fishes, and insect life. Defec-
tive as regards anatomy in the human figure and in most
animals, but successful in conveying impressions of action,
and usually correct in the proportional relations of different
parts of a figure.

“ Perspective. — False. In a few modern j^ictures more or
less successful efforts to realise distance by fixing vanishing
and distance points have been made, but in these cases the
artist has received education from Europeans. Any paint-
ing in which the laws of perspective are observed is not a
specimen of Japanese art. Of the false perspective there
are two kinds, one in Avhich lines parallel in nature are
made to diverge as they recede, another in which they are
drawn parallel without any convergence towards a distance
point or point of sight. The impression of distance is
obtained by an absurd elevation of the horizontal line in
the Chinese School and its modifications, and by the inter-
position of conventional clouds to separate nearer from
more remote objects.

“ Chiaroscuro. — Absent. A false chiaroscuro is often
practised, and this by Mr. Jarves and Sir K. Alcock has
been accepted as the genuine element. Figures in silhou-
ette against a moonlit sky are often drawn by the Ukiyo-ye

JAPAN.

[chap. TV.

artist {vide frontispiece in Alcock), but the overstrained
imaginative descriptions of such efforts are mere literary-
decoration.

“ There are no shadows in any true Japanese pictures.

“ Colour. — From a decorative point of view the colour is
mostly to he highly praised, as the better Japanese painters
are masters of harmonies and contrasts ; hut the absence
of all the variety of tint produced by shadows, and direct
and reflected lights, prevents criticism from higher ground.

‘‘ The older Japanese painting is chiefly caligraphic ; the
modern chiefly decorative. Caligraphy and painting were
in old times esteemed as equally important branches of
the fine arts, and in both China and Japan a single cha-
racter written by a noted caligrapher would often command
a higher price than the finest specimen of pictorial art.

“ The designs for metal work, ivory and wood carvings,
and porcelain and lacquer decoration, were almost invari-
ably supplied by noted painters of the Chinese, Kano,
Tosa, or Popular Schools ; hence all the important quali-
ties of Japanese art must be sought in its pictorial
manifestations.”

It may not be deemed altogether ])resumptuous for me
to express concurrence in the above opinions, and to add
to them the following remarks : First, as regards design, it
appears to me that the absence of novelty and power in the
exercise of this branch of pictorial art in the earlier schools
was due less to the absence of the necessary faculty than to
the rigid traditions and rules under which the life of Japan
was conducted for so many centuries. With a religion
founded on the worship of ancestors, and all the offices of
the state and of the church, so to speak, descending in
families, the evil effects of what we have known in our past
as patronage must have pressed heavily indeed upon all
rising artistic faculty in ancient and mediaeval Japan, for
the whole public life of the country was a system of patronage
in a highly organised, and therefore in a very oppressive,
form. In the sphere of literature, concerning which we have
naturally got to know more than of that of painting, evi-

CHAr. IV.]

DBAWINO AND PAINTING.

dences of this restraining influence abound. Even under
lyeyasu and the succeeding Shoguns of his family — and under
him and them the genius of the country appears first to have
begun to expand freely — the labours of the greatest intellects
were pursued under more or less burdensome conditions, the
military and civil supremacy of the Tokugawas being of course
the primary consideration. When greater freedom became
possible, fertility of design appeared with it in a remarkable
degree, and in this fact, it seems to me, the capability of the
Japanese became vindicated. It was said by Opie that but for
the Greeks even beauty in nature itself would perhaps have
remained undiscovered until now, or so far misunderstood
that we might have preferred the artificially crippled form
of the Chinese, or the rank and vulgar redundance of a
Flemish female, say, to the Yenus of the Trihuna. And if we
for a moment restrict the phrase “ beauty in nature ” in the
manner to which his illustration points, viz. to beauty of
the human form, no opposition to his remark could be drawn
from Japanese art, for certainly human beauty has not been
at all worthily appreciated or illustrated in Japan. Nor
indeed could it be illustrated until quite recently (however
much it might be appreciated), for the principles of anatomy
were unknown in Japan a century ago.* In point of fact.

* 111 a paper on the early study of
Dutch in Japan, read at the Asiatic
Society there by K. Mitsukuri, a
native gentleman, the author gives
a very quaint and interesting account
of the introduction of anatomical
study at Nagasaki. It is derived
chiefly from the posthumous work
of a physician named Sugita Fusai,
who is referred to in the follow-
ing extract as the author. Mr.
Mitsukuri writes : “ Another friend
of the author, Nakagara Kiowan,
also a physician, serving under the
same Daimio as himself, being inter-
ested in the products of different
countiies, was a constant visitor at
the quarters of the Dutch whenever

they appeared in Yedo. It was in
1771, one day, the interpreter showed
him two Dutch books on anatomy
which were for sale. He took them
home, and among those who saw
them was our author. Sugita could
not, of course, read a word, but was
struck by the fact that the illustra-
tions of bones and organs represented
them to be very different from what
he had believed them to be. He
wished to buy the books, but was
too poor. Fortunately, however,
he succeeded in persuading a haro
(councillor), who by his influence
had the price paid from the public
treasury of the Daimio. Ever after
this, Sugita longed for the opportu-

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

the beauty of the human form has not hitherto made any
worthy impression on Japanese art. Woman has been kept
in an inferior position ; even her face has for the most part
been defaced by the shaving of the eyebrows and the black-
ening of the teeth ; her gait has been ruined by the clumsy

nity to test whicli of the theories
was correct. He had not to wait
very long. As good luck would have
it, he was invited, shortly afterward,
to a dissection which was to take
place in the execution grounds of
Kozukappara. Such a thing was of
rare occurrence at that time, and
Sugita was not the man to enjoy it
by himself. He knew that several
of his friends, among others Naka-
gawa Kiowan and Mayeda Kiotaku,
wonld be very glad to avail them-
selves of such an opportunity. He
must let them know, by all means ;
so he wrote to them, though it was
somewhat difficult to do this, and
appointed a place to meet next
morning. The anxiously expected
day came, and all were promptly at
the rendezvous. Mayeda had witli
him a Dutch book on anatomy, which
lie had bought in Nagasaki some
time before, and when they came to
examine it, it proved to be the same
as one of those which Sugita had
been fortunate enough to procure
lately. They were soon in Kozukap-
para, the famous execution grounds
near Asakusa. The hour for which
they had longed had actually come.
They were about to know whether
the things they and their fathers
had believed in were right or wrong.
I can imagine how their hearts
must have beat. The dissection was
performed by an old executioner, an
eia who had had some experience in
this line. The result is soon told.
They of course found that their theory
was entirely mistaken, and the way
in which the illustrations in their

new book coincided with real objects
raised their admiration to a high
degree. On their way back, Mayeda,
Nakagawa, and Sugita were together.
The events which had taken place
of late must have seemed to them as
if they had been prearranged. How
fortunate that Nakagawa should
happen to see those books, that
Sugita should be able to buy them,
that they should have a chance to
test their doubts ! And what a
coincidence that Mayeda should pos-
sess the same book ! A s they walked
home they talked earnestly. Shame
that they should have lived all their
lives as physicians, and not know,
till now, the construction of the
human body, on which the science
of medicine was necessarily founded !
If they could understand the true
principle of anatomy from the real
objects they had just seen, if they
could translate this book which they
had obtained so luckily, they would
do an immense service to the country,
and wonld not have lived in this
world in vain. So they went on,
and when they separated for the
night they had come to the agree-
ment that they would try their best
to master the strange language, and
that as such things were the better
the sooner begun, they would com-
mence the very next day. They
had set before them a hard task,
but they were determined to accom-
plish it. As they parted, their haarts
were perhaps too full to speak, but
they must have shaken hands most
heartily, if such a thing had been
known then.”

CHAP. IV.]

DRAWING AND PAINTING.

clogs she has had to wear, and by the artificial system of
turning the toes inward ; and the wonder is that so much
grace and charm, and beauty too, have survived so many ages
of depression and injury. For that many are beautiful, and
very beautiful, cannot he doubted by any one who has seen
much of the people. Still, the art of Japan has yet to develop
sympathy with that strength and symmetry and beauty of
the human form which gave to the arts of Greece their highest
and most enduring glory. But when we employ the phrase
“ beauty in nature ” in its broader and more lawful sense, we
have to say that without the aid of Greece — even in the
indirect and dubious way of transit through Indian and
Chinese art — Japan has developed a genuine and intense
love of natural objects, and in connection with them a power
of design both eminent and attractive. Not only in its
drawings and paintings, hut in other branches of art, the
Japanese have evinced a wonderful power of arranging
natural objects in such relations to each other as to give
grace and charm to the whole ; and the same thing is true
when we pass beyond the design of their works to the com-
position, And perhaps of all the divisions of art none fur-
nishes a truer or better test of sound artistic feeling than
this. No design, no drawing, no colouring, nor any other
quality can redeem a work of art if it he badly composed.
“ The composition,” as has been said, “ should appear the
true efflux of a mind so heated and full of the subject as to
lose all regard and attention to everything foreign and
although some may suppose that this fulness and fervour
of the mind can only he occasioned by striking scenes or
circumstances, they really are the provocations of the true
artist to the accomplishment of whatever object he sets
before himself. The composition of Japanese pictures is
usually notable for its pleasing effects.

What has been said of design is equally true of draicing,
as regards the absence of success in dealing with the human
form, and indeed with all the higher animal forms ; and
likewise as regards the true and great success with which
birds, flowers, and other such natural objects are rendered.

VOL. II. II

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

It is a real pleasure, and not a small one, to find oneself
among a group of Japanese artists, and witness the happy
mastery which they have acquired over the brush. At the
same time it is melancholy to consider within what limits
their arts even now move, and we cannot help hoping that
Art like Woman will in Japan speedily lay aside its con-
ventional aspect and movements, and proudly and joyously
display its nobler qualities.

But to be more technical : Professor Anderson’s remarks
upon Japanese perspective are in the main true, and those
who read them, and fancy they have observed indications of a
juster knowledge of perspective than seems compatible with
them, must bear in mind his admission respecting the effects
of European teaching in some cases. To me it seems likely
that those writers are correct who fancy they discern the
effects of Dutch influence in the Japanese pictures of the last
century or two. I agree with Sir Kutherford Alcock in
thinking that the curious example of perspective given in
Hokusai (and repeated by Sir Kutherford in his ‘ Art and
Art Industries of Japan ’) is probably derived from some
Dutch source. The following sentences of Sir Kutherford’s
are also worthy of careful consideration : “ If they learned
nothing from the Dutch, the question arises. Did the
Jesuit fathers [who, as we have seen, carried their ideas and
practice of Christianity into Japan] teach drawing in their
schools, or occupy themselves with the arts, as some of those
at the court of Pekin, in the reign of Kanghi, unquestionably
did ? The latter introduced, for instance, as we know, the
use of vignette medallions on the best China ware, never
prior to that adopted in the ornamentation of Chinese
porcelain. Then, again, some of the caricatures and illustra-
tions of popular customs, in all their grotesqueness and
coarseness, powerfully recall the Dutch paintings and
engravings of similar subjects in the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, in the Hollen, Ostade, and Teniers style.
The Japanese themselves do not admit any tuition from either
of these sources, whether in perspective or the treatment of
subjects for the pencil. But when we reflect on the aptitude

CHAP. IV.]

DBA WING AND PAINTING.

they have shown to adopt foreign ideas, and imitate European
arts and customs in the present day, we cannot help seeing
the possibility of their having borrowed something in the
way of art.” Answers, and clear and conclusive ones, to the
questions here raised can doubtless he obtained from a care-
ful chronological study of Japanese pictorial works, and it is
possible that Professor Anderson’s hook now in preparation
may furnish us with them. But whatever may he the truth of
this matter, and whether the power be native or derived, it
must he acknowledged that although Japanese perspective
is usually more or less false, it often comes wonderfully near
the truth, especially as regards aerial perspective.

The statement that “ there are no shadows in any true
Japanese picture ” is a very strong one, even when one
throws out of the category of Japanese pictures all those
modern productions which are manifestly influenced by
European teaching or example. It is nevertheless perfectly
true, at least to this extent, that the rules upon which
chiaroscuro is produced by European artists are entirely un-
known to the artists of Japan. They have known absolutely
nothing of such rules ; while, I need hardly say, such
developments of chiaroscuro as Leonardo’s principle of
central radiance is even farther from the scope of Japanese
conception. Still, I cannot hut feel that it would be in-
correct to say either of Japanese or of Chinese art proper
that light and shade are absolutely unknown to it. This
has often been freely alleged, and was generally accepted as
true until recent times ; but the late Mr. Wornum, who
appears to have seen hut little more of Chinese art than an
exhibition at Hyde Park Corner, nevertheless contradicted
some of the academy professors on the point, and said the
Chinese had made “ considerable progress in light and
shade.” As a general rule, however, the chiaroscuro of
Europe has no parallel in the art of Japan.

As regards colour^ Professor Anderson’s statement of the
case seems to me to be perfectly correct. All those changes
of tint and tone which result from gradations of light and
shade are wanting ; and as a consequence it is chiefly for its

H 2

100

JAFAN.

[chap. jy.

decorative merit that the Japanese employment of colour is
valuable and instructive. But it cannot be denied that,
subject to the above limitations, Japanese artists are great
masters of the art of colouring, and masters after a fashion
mostly, if not wholly, their own. Mr. J. Leighton (quoted
by Alcock) has borne ample tribute to this great merit of
theirs, claiming for the Japanese a subdued and refined style
superior to that of the Chinese. “ I do not wish you to
understand,” he says, “ that the Japanese artists do not use
bright colours, for few men know their value better ; but
what I desire to convey is that they use them judiciously,
and in comparatively small proportions, cleverly supporting
and contrasting them with their secondaries, and other
compound colours, which they use in grounds and large
masses generally.” Sir Eutherford Alcock, I am pleased to
see, does ready justice to the fine Japanese sense of harmony
and tone in colours, himself evidently enjoying equally in
their way both the splendour and the quieter beauty of their
effects. Sir Eutherford, like myself, delights in bright
colours, and is not ashamed to own it. “A relative ar-
rangement of tints will do much to produce harmony,” he
says, “ but will scarcely satisfy a colourist who loves masses
of the brightest hues, such as in a sunny clime are a per-
petual feast to the eye, and a delight to the sense which
revels in profusion. The Eoman scarf, or the handkerchief
of the contadina, the bright coloured sash of the Andalusian,
and the glowing scarlets and gold of the Indian bazaars, are
all living evidences of an innate sense of the beauty of bright
and pure colours. We have not in England the sun of these
southern and eastern climes, which gives to the skies and
mountains, to trees, birds, and fiowers, a glory of such
brightness that colour of the most vivid and brilliant hues
forms, by daily and hourly association, a needful element in
the life of the people.”

Some objects are continually recurring in the pictorial as
in the other arts of Japan. Among natural objects are the
blossoms of the plum, the cherry, the peach, and the apricot ;
the pine-tree ; the Pauloumia Imj)erialis, a straight-growing

CHAP. IV.]

DU AWING AND FAINTING.

101

tree with large leaves (as an emblem of rectitude) ; the flower-
ing peony, the bamboo, the willow, the maple, and the chry-
santhemum ; also various birds, most frequently the stork, the
wild duck, and the eagle ; and, perhaps more commonly than
anything else, the glorious and sacred mountain of Fuji-san,
or Fuji-yama. Numerous striking historical characters and
incidents likewise are often repeated by artists. Some
objects frequently recur in association, the following ex-
amples of which I take from Mr. Pfoundes’s collection of
notes entitled ‘ Fu so Mimi Bukuro.’ The pine-tree and
stork ; both are emblems of longevity : this design is very
frequently used in the embroidery of robes presented to
new-born babes. The peony and Chinese Lion ; the peony
is usually sketched on large articles, such as screens at the
entrances of temples, on panels, ceilings, etc. The bamboo
and sparrow, both being of a mild and gentle nature —
a design often seen in embroidery, and on fans and
screens. The willow and marten I or swallow) ; the willow
waves in the breeze, and the swallow sways to and fro — a
favourite design for fans, etc. The cherry and pheasant ; the
cherry, cultivated solely for its bloom, is jointly named with
the “ gorgeously plumed pheasant.” The plum-tree (in Japan
“ the poet’s favourite tree ”) is associated with the Japanese
nightingale (the uguisu). This combination is a very common
design, the plum-tree having, from a verse written by Wani in
honour of the ancient and popular emperor Kintoku, become
associated with poetry, and the uguisu being the poet of the
woods. “ ‘ Send forth your fragrance upon the eastern winds,
0 flowers of the plum-tree ! and do not forget the spring,
because of the absence of the sun,’ cries a native poet. Not
unfrequently does one see the plum-tree stand all leafless in
the snow, but adorned with white blossoms, like a bride before
the altar. It bursts into clouds of fragrance and beauty in
February, the leaves appearing later ” (Griffis).

Another frequent design is that of a bird flying across the
crescent moon. This is “ the moon and the cuckoo,” and
springs from a legend of the twelfth century. About 1153 a.i).
the Mikado fell sick, being nightly stricken with a horrible

102

JAPAN.

[chap. IV.

nightmare. • It was discovered that a dark cloud moved from
over a grove of trees and rested upon the imperial residence,
two fiery orbs shining out from it. The priests failing by
their prayers to drive away the brooding demon, one Yorimasa
undertook to slay it, and after successive watching at lengths
breathed a prayer to the great god Hachiman, and added to
his prayer (what the orthodox priests had omitted) a heavy
arrow from his well-bent how. The arrow, or the prayer, or
both, brought the monster down, and Yorimasa made his
work complete by nine plunges of his sword, each time to the
hilt. The demon thus slain was formidable enough to
account for its brooding dangerously even over the breast of
an emperor, for it had an ape-like head, the body and claws
of a tiger, and a tail that was itself a huge and venomous
serpent. It was called Nuye, from its cry resembling that of a
bird of this name. The emperor, wishing to reward Yorimasa,
gave him a celebrated sword called SJiishi no 0 (the king of
wild hoars). Besides, knowing that he secretly loved Ayame *
no Maye, and that the love was returned, he bestowed her
on Yorimasa. The noble who was appointed to present the
sword to Yorimasa, knowing his reputation as a poet as well
as a brave man, bethought him of trying a verse after the
Zo-to style, and just at the moment a hototogisu (cuckoo) was
heard, giving him the “ key-note ” of his verse, the Icami no
Jvii of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables.

Eo-to-to-gi-su

Na-o mo Tcu-mo i ni

1-gu-ru kana,

and immediately Yorimasa answered him with the following
sliimo no ku of two lines of seven syllables each —

Yumi ha-ri tsu-ki no
A-rv, ni ma-ka-se-te

* A yarae, the blossom of the CVtZrt- was only used for the daughters of
mus aromaticus, or tlowering sweet men of rank. — See Pfoiindes’s ‘Fu

flag. Female names were usually so IMimi Bukuro,’ from which, as I

derived from flowers. Maye is the have i)reviously said, these ilhistra-

ancient affix to female names. Ilime tious are taken.

CHA.P. IV.]

DB AWING AND PAINTING.

103

— making the complete lionlca of thirty-one syllables. And his
readiness and wit increased his reputation as a scholar and
a soldier. In this way the moon {tsuld) became associated for
ever with the cuckoo. But in order to fully understand the
connection, the qualified reader must note the double mean-
ing of the verse, which it is impossible to render into English.
It reads one way —

“ The liototogisu
Above the clouds —

How does it mount?

The waning moon
Sets not at will.”

But as it alludes to Yorimasa’s elevation to imperial favour,
there is the concealed meaning —

“Like the cuckoo
So high to soar,

How is it so?

Only my bow I bent,

That only sent the shaft.”*

Geese and rushes are often coupled together, it being
believed that wild geese, on making long flights, carry in
their beaks rushes which they drop upon water, and then
alight upon them to rest. The chrysanthemum and the fox
are drawn together in reference to one of the many fox-
myths which abound in Japan. The story goes that a royal
prince was bewitched by a fox in the shape of a damsel, who
became his mistress. One day she fell asleep in a bed of
chrysanthemums, resuming her normal shape, and while
thus lying was shot at by her lover, whose arrow smote the
creature in the forehead. On afterwards finding his sweet-
heart with a wound in the temple, he discovered her true

* “ The play on words in the first
portion is only alluding to the soar-
ing of the bird and comparing it to
Yorimasa’s elevation, the real com-
parison and readily improvised verse
inciting the native admiration. In
the second portion, the allusion to

the bow-like shape of the waning
moon and its setting, the play is on
the word tsuld no, moon, or one’s own
will — on Yumi liari, to bend a bow
— the shape of the waning moon —
and Aril, to set (as the moon sets) —
or to send a shaft.’’ — Pfoundes.

104

JAPAN.

[chap. IV ^

character. The bamboo and the tiger are united, because
the tiger fears the elephant, and therefore hides in the
bamboo jungle. Peach-trees and oxen are often coupled ;
there is a Chinese saying, “ Turn the horse loose on the
flower-covered mountain, and the ox into the peach orchard.”
A dragon is often shown crossing the summit of Fuji-yama
on the clouds, a small snake having become the dragon ; so
an abject person sometimes becomes an exalted one, rising to
a great height, and easily surmounting the greatest obstacles :
the design is therefore an emblem of success in life.

I must conclude this chapter by expressing my conviction
that under the new order of things now prevailing in Japan,
and more especially on account of the great intercourse
between their country and Europe, Japanese artists will
make extraordinary strides in the mastery of European art,
and will combine with it elements of power and beauty peculiar
to themselves. Mr. Jarves and Sir Eutherford Alcock concur,
apparently, in thinking that at present Japanese artists
“ have a technical mastery of other means, not known to
genre and landscape painters in Europe, by which they
produce effects that place a scene before the eyes in a way to
fill the imagination with a vision of things only suggested
by the pencil.” I agree with them, for I find no other
explanation of the extraordinary pleasure which one experi-
ences alike in seeing the Japanese artist dashing his won-
drously effective strokes upon his paper or silk, and in turning
over the pages of a hook embodying the results of his
labour. I have seen the French Tissot, the Neapolitan
Martino, the Eussian Aivasovsky, and some of our own artists
wielding their cunning pencils with swift and startling
effect ; hut no European that I know rivals the native of
Japan in artistic legerdemain. From the blending of his
traditional and mystic skill with the art familiar to ourselves,
we may justly expect to gather rich results hereafter.

1'iiE Ascendikg Dragon.

To face page \0 A, Vol.II.

( 105 )

CHAPTER V.

PROVEKBS AND PHRASES OP THE PEOPLE.

Many proverbs and proverbial sayings — Expressions for what is impossible
— Injunctions for avoiding the appearance of evil.

The proverbs and phrases current among a people reflect
their character and modes of thought, and in so reflecting
them tend to increase their permanence. Mr. Pfonndes, in
his ‘ Notes,’ Herr Knohloch, in the ‘ Transactions of the
German Society of Japan,’ and Mr. Grifiis, have all helped
to bring a number of Japanese proverbs and sayings into
an accessible form, and from their collections I select the
following, observing that in many of them there is in the
original a play upon words which cannot be translated, but
which sharpens the point of the phrase to the native.

Impossibility is a good reason.

Open lips make cold teeth.

The mouth is the door of mischief.

An ugly woman avoids the looking-glass.

The fox who borrows strength of the tiger.

To water your own field.

Life is a light in the wind.

To number the years of a dead child ; i.e. probably, to do
something that is quite useless.

Illnesses come through the mouth.

To give a sail to ability ; i.e. to assist talent.

Even the monkey falls from the tree.

To cut a stick after the fight.

106

JAPAN.

[chap. V.

Of whom we speak, his is the shadow ; i.e. he of whom we
speak throws his shadow upon us.

Willow twigs dig no snow.

Daughters-in-law become mothers-in-law; i.e. probably,
the young and agreeable become old and disagreeable.

Prophets know nothing about themselves.

Covetous about one mori (a small coin), and neglectful of
a hundred.

Flowers on a dead tree.

The devil’s ‘‘ Help, 0 holy Buddha ! ” i.e. like the devil
crying to Buddha for help.

To blow away the hair and find a wound.

Like trying to seize a tai (a sort of perch) ; i.e. trying to
seize an eel.

Indolence is a powerful enemy.

To give something more to a thief ; i.e. to give your
cloak to the stealer of your coat.

To adapt the sermon to the hearers.

Like going into the fire with an armful of bamboos.

To submit is victory.

A fallen blossom does not return to the twig.

Sufficient dust wdll make a mountain.

Even the fool has his art.

The magnet can attract iron but not stone.

Adapt yourself to the place you are in.

Too much courtesy is discourtesy.

He who holds a tiger brings trouble on himself.

The bat of a village without birds ; as we say, in the
company of the blind the one-eyed are kings.

The sea-eagle has hatched a falcon.

Many captains, and the ship goes on to the rocks.

Even two leaves of the spendan give forth perfume.

CHAP. V.] POFULAR FROVEEBS AND F1IRA8ES,

107

The heart is the same at sixty as at three.

The snakes know the paths of the dsha (a large species of
snake).

No fish in clear water.

One crane’s voice is better than (the chirping of) a
thousand sparrows.

A drunkard cannot deny (conceal) his real character.

Like pushing a stone with an egg.

The heart is better than a beautiful face ; i.e. to have a
heart is better than to have a beautiful face.

Kubbing salt into a wound; i.e. adding insult to injury.
Listening to a child you fall over a precipice ; i.e. attend-
ing to trifles and neglecting more important matters.

Tears even in the devil’s eyes.

Poking out the eye with an insignificant twig.

Overcome in words, in truth victorious.

Pinch yourself and know how others feel.

The dog bites the hand that caresses it.

To reach the cub you must enter the tiger’s den.

•

The stomach will not allow itself to change places with
the back.

Burnt cheeks do not fear the sun.

No door can be made for the mouth.

Beware of beautiful women as you would of red pepper.

The crows laugh at tales that are three years old; i.e.
they are foolish enough to be amused with anything.

To fall seven times, to stand the eighth.

In evil times the hero appears.

To buy misfortune at market.

A firebrand is easily kindled.

The frog in the well knows nothing of the high seas.

Too much done is nothing done.

108

JAPAN

[chap. V.

Like sitting a child alone on a well.

To look at the heavens through a cane tube ; i.e. to take
a limited view of great things.

Like a fox on horseback.

No standing in the w’orld without stooping.

No art against deceit.

He who touches vermilion becomes red.

He who breaks through a thicket disturbs the snakes.
Poke a cane-brake, and a snake will sli|) out.

The absent get farther off every day.

Unpolished jewels do not shine.

To be thirsty and dig a well ; i.e. huge exertions to
satisfy a trifling want.

Bearing wood to the flames.

The blind man does not fear a snake.

Like a wolf in priest’s clothing.

To steal a bell with your ears covered; i.e. to affect to
dislike something whilst taking it.

To give wings to a tiger.

On the road a horse would eat a marsh-mallow ; i.e. too
hungry to he dainty.

Ice comes from water, hut is colder than water.
Egg-plants do not grow from melon-seeds.

A deserter is terrified even by the tzmzuhe ears (a kind of
long grass).

To talk to the crows of the white heron (white animals are
often held sacred in Japan).

For travelling, a companion ; for the world, kindness.
Hairs even on a bald head.

Poverty cannot outrun industry.

Lanterns and hells ; may perhaps he read as meaning two
different means to the same end, namely, the warning

CHAP. V.] POPULAR PROVERBS AND PHRASES.

109

travellers that a vehicle is approaching. Both articles
are employed thus in Japan.

No escape from the nets of heaven.

To give honey to eat ; to flatter ; or possibly equivalent to
“ sending you ruffles when wanting a shirt.”

The bird that flies upwards does not ruffle the water.
People that are hated strut about the world.

Use the stick soon and save a fall.

Like seeking for fish on a tree.

After three years even an evil becomes a necessity ; i.e.
habit is everything.

Habit has more weight than instruction.

Eagerness is loss ; i.e. most haste worst speed.

A novice does not at once become a superior.

Poverty leads to theft.

Good medicine tastes bitter.

Dumplings are better than flowers.

Even a new shoe will not make a hat ; i.e. no use to
try improper means.

Great words little deeds.

A friend at hand is better than relatives at a distance.

A devil in the heart (an evil conscience) torments the
body.

The hand goes to the itching spot.

A clever falcon hides his talons.

When the tiger is dead, spare his skin.

Pleasure is the germ of sorrow.

To hide the sword with a smile.

If dogs go about they must expect the stick.

Before argument, proof.

Hated children fear not the world.

Thankless labour brings fatigue.

110

JAPAN.

[cHAr. V.

To speak loud, and then purse the lips. (It is useless to
shut the mouth after shouting out.)

Moral people beget many children ; probably honest
bodies get the heaviest loads thrown upon them by the
cunning.

Money thrown after thieves ; equivalent to throwing good
money after bad.

Emerald and crystal are known by their sheen.

Old people led by their children.

For a broken pot a mended lid ; or nothing is so bad that
there is not some use for it. Even an unprepossessing
woman finds her mate.

Lepers envious of those with sores.

The first-born comes with most difiiculty.

Be careful to be careful.

Crying faces wasps sting; or, misfortune seldom comes
singly.

After pleasure there is grief.

If falsehood takes the road, truth hides.

Truth cometh out of falsehood ; or, truth comes to the
surface.

Do you know how to boil potatoes ? Used in addressing
stupid or clumsy people when they commit some foolish
mistake.

After the swallowing the scalding is forgotten ; it might
be paraphrased, danger past is laughed at.

A demon with a club. Doubly frightful.

Cheaply bought, money lost.

To wish to send a letter, but not being a writer. When
one wishes to excuse oneself on the ground of inability
or want of opportunity.

Children are a burden on one’s shoulders, past, present, and
future.

CHAP. V.] POPULAR PROVERBS AND PHRASES.

Ill

To my own experience lioist the sail, meaning ‘‘ to ride
one’s own hobby.”

The master’s favourite red cap. (The great man’s will
must be humoured.)

To hide the head but not hide the tail.

Hearing of Paradise and seeing Hades.

Carelessness is great danger; literally, oil exhausted, a
great danger.

Ignorance bliss.

Providence is a strange thing ; apparently in the sense of
“ Chance brings together queer couples.”

The poor have no leisure.

Those who know the ropes do most hauling.

Kio no ]jume, Osaka no yume — ‘‘ A dream of Kioto a dream
of Osaka.” Building castles in the air.

Child-bearing is easier than child-tending.

If in haste go round.

The spawn of frogs will become but frogs.

By searching the old, learn the new.

More words, less sense.

Clever preacher, short sermon.

Who steals money is killed, who steals a country is a king.

Like learning to swim in a field.

The gods sit on the brow of the just.

Send abroad (or from you) the child you love most.

Making an idol does not give it a soul.

Live under your own hat.

A (wife’s) tongue, three inches long, can kill a man six feet
high.

The heron rises from the stream without stirring up the
mud.

If you curse any one, look out for two graves. “ Curses,
like chickens, come home to roost.”

112

JAPAN.

[CJIAI*.

There is no teacher of Japanese poetry. (Foeta nascitM\
non jit.)

Good doctrine needs no miracle.

Kegard an old man as thy father.

Expressions for what is impossible : —

To build a bridge to the clouds.

To throw a stone at the sun.

To disperse a fog with a fan.

To bale the ocean with the hand.

Injunctions for avoiding the appearance of evil : —

Don’t wipe your shoes in a melon patch.

Don’t handle your cap when passing under a pear-tree.
Don’t stay long when the husband is not at home.

ANCIENT BURIAL-PLACE OF AN EMPEllOR.

( 113 )

CHAPTEK VI.

THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

Departure from Yokohama in the Meiji Maru — The lighthouse of Oosima
— Precautions against earthquakes — A natural breakwater — Kohd and
Hiogo — Waterfalls — Temples and shrines — The club at Kobe — Scenery
of the Inland Sea — The hay and castle of Mihara — A beautiful dawn —
Takahara— The ancient temples ofMiyajima— A torii in the sea —
Sacred deer and monkeys — The Shinto shrines — Origin of the temple —
A homeless goddess — A rebellion and a revenge — Shimonoseki — The
straits of that name — The attack of the combined squadrons in 1864 —
An indemnity extorted by the aggressors — The town of Shimonoseki
— A legend of its temple — A change of weather — Nagasaki harbour
— One Pine-tree House — A singular imperial salute — The coal-mines of
Takashima — Government establishments — A Church missionary — The
fatal isle of Pappenherg — Return trip through the Inland Sea — The
ancient city of Osaka — Its historic associations.

Having spent, and well and busily spent, nearly a month in
tlie capital of Japan, it was next arranged for us to make a
trip through the most important parts of the country, and on
Wednesday, February 5, soon after midday, we left Tokio
for Yokohama, and before three had embarked on board the
twin-screw steamship Meiji Maru, belonging to the light-
house department of the Japanese government. The de-
parture of this commodious and fast government steamer
upon lighthouse duty in the Inland Sea and on the west and
south coasts, with Mr. McKitchie, the government engineer-
in-chief of the department, on board, was a convenient
opportunity for facilitating our visit to the interior, and
a more satisfactory one to me than the appropriation of a
special steamer for the purpose, which had been contem-
plated. By taking passage in this vessel, when engaged
upon her periodical visit to the lighthouses, I was enabled to

VOL. II. ' I

114

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

view the coast more minutely, both outside in the Pacific,
and in the Inland and Japan Seas ; to visit some of the light-
houses and acquaint myself with their construction and
working arrangements, in company with the superintending
engineer ; and at the same time to visit Kobe, Hiogo,
Miramar, Miyajima, Shimonoseki, and Nagasaki without
much expenditure of time, owing to the high speed of the
Meiji Maru. It was arranged for his excellency Admiral
Kawamura also to make this inland journey, as he had public
business to transact at several of the ports and other places
which lay on our route. His excellency Enouye (then
minister of public works), whom the lighthouse department
was under, was good enough to see us comfortably berthed on
board the Meiji, and after he had taken leave of us, at three
o’clock, we steamed down the Bay of Yedo, passing on our
way the P. and 0. steamer China, just arriving from Hong
Kong, carrying the English and Continental mail into Japan.
The Meiji is commanded by an accomplished English officer.
Captain Peters, whom I had had the pleasure of knowing a
little in England, and who by his intimate acquaintance with
the coast, the tides, set of sea, etc., was able to spare us in
the first night and throughout our trip with him much of
that inconvenience which better sailors than I can pre-
tend to be confess to experiencing when their ship is very
uncertain how to keep upright, and very violent in its
endeavours to do so.* The first lighthouse to be visited was

* Owing perhaps to a little per-
versity of my own, and also to a trap
being laid for me by the unwisdom
of a servant (and how much more
we all suffer from want of sense
in others than from any intended
wrongs !), I nevertheless contrived to
get an ugly fall during the first
night. Having persisted in selecting
an upper bunk to sleep in, and
vaulted into it with as much agility
as was available, a servant heedlessly
threw a fur-lined coat over the rail
of the bunk below ; consequently, in

alighting afterwards from my eleva-
tion, my foot slipped over the fur as
soon as my weight came upon it, and
I fell upon the edge of the upper
bunk, and thence to the deck. The
fall was apparently a trifling one,
and made no mark, but I became
very sick and ill for a time, and a
rib must have been badly bruised, as
I felt so much pain afterwards that I
had to take medical advice at Naga-
saki, and as I write these lines, seven
weeks after the fall, I still feel the
effects.

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

115

that situated on the eastern point of the island of Oosima, off
the peninsula of Kii. The island is spelt Oshima on the
map of Mr. Brunton (who preceded Mr. McEitchie in his
office), and Oosima in the Nautical Pocket Manual published
in Shanghai, the name of the light being given in the latter
as Kashinosaki. It is a white catoptric light, of the second
order, revolving every half-minute, and is visible for eighteen
miles. There is nothing to be said of our passage to Oosima,
except that the evening after our departure was fair ; that
the sacred Mount Fuji was a splendid and impressive feature
in the shifting picture ; that after we had cleared the Bay of
Tokio and the Sagami Sea we had nothing but the sea
between us and Australia ; and that we reached our anchor-
age inside the island we were bound for soon after midday
of the 6th. The day' was singularly fine and warm, and we
landed, at a very difficult landing-place, upon an isle so
pleasant that one began to think of the “ Lotus-eaters ” —

“In the afternoon they came unto a land,

In which it seemed always afternoon.”

It was curious to observe that in anticipation of earth-
quakes the lighting machinery of the lighthouse was all
supported upon a bed-plate resting on three spheres, partly
to allow the upper portion to slide or roll upon the lower,
and partly on the same principle as that which induced Sir
Joseph Whitworth to support upon three points his “ true
planes,” and his own billiard table which he has in his
Manchester residence, viz. the mathematical principle that a
plane surface can be passed through any three points in
space, and therefore when a plane surface rests upon three
points only either or all of those points can change its position
without distorting the surface. The arrangement as adapted
to the English-built lighthouse at Oosima is perfectly sound
in principle, but even in Japan earthquakes of sufficient
violence to upset lighthouse apparatus are so unfrequent
that I strongly suspect the bed would usually be found
resting upon the additional supports which are intended for
use when men are moving about the light -machinery for

I 2

116

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

cleaning and other purposes. Still when a violent earth-
quake does come, and they do come at these parts of the
country as we have seen, it will be well if the light is found
poised on its spheres.*

I have elsewhere spoken of earthquakes at some length,
but this is a suitable place for mentioning what happened
twenty-five years ago near this spot — off the peninsula of
Idzu, which was passed on the previous evening. On a hay
at the end of that peninsula, and inside Kock Island, is the
town of Shimoda, which had been opened as a foreign port.
A great earthquake came, and with it tidal waves and sub-
sidiary waves of such a nature that the Eussian frigate
Diana, which was lying there, was spun round forty-three
times in thirty minutes, as previously stated, and was thrown
high and dry, a useless wreck, at the end of the revolutionary
period ! This was in 1854, and we are informed that this
same earthquake shook and injured the country for some
hundreds of miles along this south-eastern part of Japan.
It was in the next year that the great earthquake at Yedo

* Since writing the above I have
consulted a paper on “the Japan
lights ” read at the Institution of
Civil Engineers by Mr. Brunton, C.E.,
by whom many of them were estab-
lished, and find that he docs not
think altogether favourably of the
plan adopted. He finds that while
the free motion of the upper over the
lower part of a structure may neutral-
ise the effects of an earthquake
shock, it at other times has incon-
venient results. A person stepping
on one of the ‘‘ aseismatic ” tables, for
the purpose of trimming or cleaning
the lamps, causes the upper part to
roll to such an extent that the lamps
become deranged, and in the case of
revolving lights the regular motion
of the clock-work is interfered with.
To remedy these defects Messrs.
Stevenson introduced an arrangement
of vertical springs, but it w'as only
partially successful. In the paper

referred to Mr. Brunton discusses —
as he and others had previously done
at the Asiatic Society in Japan — the
best mode of constructing buildings
to resist earthquakes ; and gives a
full and most interesting account of
the lighthouse system of Japan — one
of the best in the world, and continu-
ally undergoing extension. An im-
portant discussion followed, in which
Messrs. Stevenson gave an instance of
considerable damage being done by
an earthquake to the Sagami (Japan)
lights in consequence of their aseis-
matic arrangement being put out of
working order. The appamtus ap-
pears to have been caught by the
earthquake in exactly the state in
which, as stated in the text, I
anticij^atcd on the spot (at Oshima)
it would be found. — See Proceedings
of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
vol. xlvii. Session 1876-77, pt. 1.

CHAP. VI.]

THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

117

(now Tokio) took place ; and in fourteen months of 1854-55
no less than eight hundred and seventeen shocks were
experienced.

We left Oosima before three, steaming out at the western
end of the island, and passing a remarkable series of rocks
running a mile out from the shore, and forming an almost
continuous natural breakwater. ,We now rounded the
southernmost point of the province of Kii, passing the high
light of Siwomi-saki, which is a fine fixed light of the first
order, and steamed up between Kii and Awa, through the
Isumi Strait, past the island of Tomagashima, on the western
extremity of which is another fixed white light (third order),
extremely well placed. We anchored before midnight in
the harbour of Kobe. Kain had come on at sunset, and the
night had continued wet, but next morning clear, warm sun-
shine streamed over the pretty European-looking town of Kobe
(one of the places open to foreign trade), and over the hills
beyond. Hiogo, which is a genuine old Japanese town,
practically adjoins Kobe, and is continuous with it, the road
leading through them having to surmount one of those river
beds which are embanked considerably above the level of
the adjacent country, and of which we afterwards saw so
many. At anchor in Kobe, besides a large number of merchant
craft, was the large iron-belted Japanese corvette Hi-yei,
which I had the honour to design and see built in England
for his majesty the Mikado ; and likewise H.M. surveying
ship Stjlvia and gun-vessel Lihj, The captain of the Hi yei
came to fetch us, and we proceeded to his ship, which had
just returned from Korea, and which was minutely inspected
by his excellency the minister of marine. H.M.S. Sylvia
is commanded by Captain Aldrich, who so much distinguished
himself in the sledging work of our recent North Pole Ex-
pedition. I was unable, from want of time, to visit his ship
(which I myself had had fitted at Woolwich as a surveying
vessel many years ago), but I had the pleasure of calling on
Captain and Mrs. Aldrich on shore later in the day. During
the forenoon we drove to the famous waterfalls two or three
miles out of the town, or rather to the base of the hills down

118

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

which they drop, having then a delightful climb through
lovely scenery of hill, wood, and stream to the falls them-
selves.

All the way up are scattered tea-houses, with one more
or less pretty girl at least to each. Nor is the place
wanting in the conveniences of worship, for there are little
temples and gods and shrines sufficient in number for all
reasonable people. We stopped at one of these on the way
down, where the goddess Kwannon was surrounded by small
gilt figures, just as the Virgin is surrounded by angels of
music in Fra Angelica’s famous picture in the Uffizi Palace,
Kwannon’s angels and the Virgin’s being of about the same
size. There were other gods about this building, and we hap-
pened to be present at the time when numerous cups of rice
were being offered upon the altar by an old woman attendant.
There was a box for voluntary subscriptions. I could not
quite understand this temple, as no priests were visible,
and there was a business-like money-making look about the
arrangements which gave the whole thing the appearance
of a purely commercial speculation. There were several
Japanese gentlemen with us, but none of them seemed to
understand any more about it than I did ; one of them
suggested, however, that the proprietors were probably
priests, and that may have been the true explanation of the
matter. At any rate there were the gods and the oppor-
tunities for worshipping and subscribing all complete.

In the afternoon we visited the great Shinto temple of this
place, and took a drive through and about Hiogo, this being
the first purely Japanese country town of large size that
we had yet visited. In the evening after dinner, by the kind-
ness of Mr. McEitchie, we were introduced to the club, where
was an abundance of English newspapers, and an excellent
billiard-room with several good billiard- tables. At 11 p.m.
we re-embarked in the Meiji Maru by means of the Ili-yei’s
boats, and at midnight the anchor was weighed and we
were under steam again for the Harima Nada, which may be
called the second part of the Inland Sea going westward, the
first part being the Idzunii Nada, upon which Kobe and

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

119

Hiogo are situated. The two are separated by the island of
Awaji, north and south of which are connecting straits.

By breakfast time next morning we had passed through the
Harima Sea, and were well in among the beautiful clusters
of islands which lie thickly spread in an east and west direc-
tion for nearly two hundred miles. After spending some
hours at anchor at the light of Nabeshima (a small pic-
turesque island close to the southern extremity of the
northern shore) we proceeded again through lovely lakelike
scenery, with multitudinous islands, all much less bright
and green and flowery at this season than in the summer of
course. About noon we reached, and cast anchor in, the small
Bay of Mihara or Mirawa, which has been spoken of as a
suitable situation for a great protected naval establishment.
I need hardly say that the approaches to this place, and
its naval and defensive capabilities, were carefully noted,
with results that it would he too wearying to the reader to
enter upon here. We landed, after luncheon, at the nearest
village, and proceeded in jinriki-shas to the old castle of
Mihara, where some time was occupied in the inspection of
the harbourage, the artificial river hanks, and so forth, and
likewise, and not least interestingly, in going over the old
palace and outbuildings of the castle proper, with its ancient
spears, hows and arrows, matchlocks, pictures, screens, etc.

The following day, Sunday, 9th of February, we rose soon
after six, to see the ship start, and in order that we might
observe the character of the western approaches to Mihara,
and enjoy the island scenery we were to pass through. And
well was one repaid for rising early, by witnessing the
strange fantastic beauty of the dawn. In the north-west
was a vast dense zone of snow-cloud, deeply fringed with
red at the top, and lowering over a vast dark amphitheatre
of glorious hills and mountains. The picture was grand
and sombre ; but presently the amphitheatre, being already
full of dawnlight, began to fill with daylight, and then
again with direct sunlight, until at length it brimmed
and ran over with vivid glory, and, says my note-book,
“ seemed to invite, not admiration, but festive enjoyment.”

120

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

It was what Shakespeare calls “jocund day,” that filled
the world.

There were official reasons for going up to view the town
of Takahara or Takewara, which lies in a pleasant situation
in a valley, with the sea coming up to and fiowing past
it, through a pretty channel that admits of the passage of
boats and junks. We were under way again before eight
o’clock, steaming between the beautiful scattered islands,
with their sides terraced for cultivation, like the Ehine-side
vineyards, broken at intervals with cataracts of green vegeta-
tion streaming down to the sea, and relieved by the shining
sails of innumerable junks given to the morning winds that
wander, literally wander, among the countless islands of these
inland waters. At 9.30 we struck northwards, or north-
westwards, from the main route to Shimonoseki, in order to
visit the ancient and extraordinary temples of Miyajima,
which but very few Europeans have seen.

These temples are situated upon the island of Itsuku (im-
pregnable), ofi* the mainland of the province of Woa, and
in view of the large town of Heroshima, lying ten miles
to the east. Approaching their site from the south, as
visitors do, and on the outside of the island, one comes to a
stone lantern standing out of the sea off the corner of the
island, as a receptacle for a night-lamp for the guidance of
local boats ; and passing this, next appears the unusual
sight of a large torii standing in’ and rising out of the sea ;
and inside of this again open up as you advance a crowd of
temples, and a town at the foot of hills. These hills are high,
have obviously once been thickly wooded, and are in many
places thickly wooded still. It was on these hillsides that
the sacred deer and the sacred monkeys of Miyajima once
flourished, and it is at their feet that their few remaining
representatives still linger."^ The first thing we did on

* “ The mistake,” says Mr. Max Generally, however, there are many.
Miiller,“ which is made by most writers Sometimes the souls of the departed

on early religions, is that they im- are believed to dwell in certain

agine tliere can be but one motive for animals. . . . Monkeys are looked

each custom that has to be explained. upon as men slightly damaged at the

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

121

landing was to spend a trifle on the food prepared at little
stalls for the purpose, and to feed therewith whatever of
sacredness still animated the forlorn-looking deer that
followed us to obtain it. Emerson somewhere speaks of
those divine days in which even the cattle in the fields seem
to have great and tranquil thought ; and if these surviving
sacred animals have any great thought, or even any thought
at all, they probably employ it, like good old-fashioned
Tories at home, in deploring the loss of “ the days that are
no more.” I am much afraid, however, that their sacred-
ness has nearly disappeared from Itsuku ; and as to the
monkeys, they seem to have almost all gone away in
company with their sacredness, for in all Miyajima I could
find hut one. I was assured that there are two in one of
the temples, hut although I looked carefully about it I
could see only the one, leaping lazily from rafter to rafter
overhead, stopping occasionally to let a glance fall upon our
party. I am sure that he was a sacred one, however, by
the coolness and indifference with which he did this, for
even among ourselves we always find that the more we are
disposed to treat people with respect and reverence, the
more sure they are to treat us with contempt in return.
But I have been too anxious, I find, to give attention to
these awe-inspiring beings, and have spoken of them too
soon. I leave them to that slow-descending hut certain
doom which awaits them.

Numerous skiffs came off to land us, but we took a boat
of the Meiji, and were advised that we could pass under
the torii and land at the temple itself. This we attempted,
but unsuccessfully, the tide falling fast, and our boat
drawing too much water. We therefore landed at the town,
and strolled round to the Shinto shrines. The torii which
we passed under twice is of wood. A large one in stone to

Creation : sometimes also as men thus a reluctance arose to kill them, like

punished for their sins. They are in other animals, and from this there

some places believed to be able to would be but a small step to ascrib-

speak, but to sham dumbness in order ing to them certain sacro-sanctity.” —

to escape labour. Hence, it may be, ‘ Hibbert Lectures,’ 1878.

122

JAPAN.

[chap. VI,

replace it lias been presented by some wealthy personage,
and huge granite blocks, already trimmed to size and shape,
have been brought to the spot for erection. But for some
reason or other— perhaps the whirling of the revolutionary
tornado — they have not been erected, and are lying there on
the shore, with the sea rising over them each tide. The
older parts of these Shinto shrines of Miyajima date from
the year 589 a.d., the later parts being about seven hundred
years old. Outside there are huge stone and bronze lanterns,
some of them of great size and fine workmanship, to say
nothing of a pair of large bronze animals, three hundred
years old, which some people call lions, but which others
might without much offence, I should think, call by any
other of a score of names. At high tide the water flows
around and under the outer platforms of the temple. The
temples are hung with portraits of a hundred poets of all
ages, many of them belonging to the imperial family
(which is not surprising, seeing the sacred character of
the sovereigns, and the leisure enforced upon them and
theirs) ; and there are also to be seen a large number of
votive writings, drawings, and paintings, some of them such
as no one would covet, and some few of them of a very high
class of art indeed, and of great value — more, I should
think, than their custodians are aware of. There are also
here some treasures and curiosities, among them the
immense bow of the hero Yaguro, and a sword which
belonged to the prince of No to, the scabbard of which I
found to measure 7^ feet in length, and the handle feet.
There is also, standing about 15 feet in length above
ground, and 18 feet round, part of a tree planted by the
emperor Takakura (1169-80), and therefore at least seven
hundred years old.

And now I will detail to my readers a few facts about the
origin of this temple, which were communicated to me by
the authorities on the spot, and in perfect good faith, so
that no one need doubt them unless he pleases. The
goddess of this temple is Mihashirano-hime-o-kami, who was
the daughter of Susanoo-no-mikoto, whom we know so

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

123

much about, from what has gone before. The sun-goddess,
Amaterasu, ordered our goddess (as we will for the moment
call her of this temple) to come down from heaven and
abide here. She came down, hut for a long time no
residence was provided for her. In point of fact this
goddess must have been wandering, neglected and home-
less, for an immense period, for it was only in the reign of
the empress Suiko (593-629 a.d.) that she had the temple
built for her. Now as she probably came down long before
Jimmu-Tenno began to reign, and as his reign commenced
660 B.C., it would seem that thirteen hundred years would
he much within the term of her wanderings. However,
these came to an end at last, and in the following remark-
able way. It appears that a man named Saekino-Kuramoto,
living near the island of Itsuku, was out in a boat fishing
“ with another old fellow ” (so runs the narrative), and
when they had gone as far as Okanoshima they observed
coming towards them a boat with a red sail set on her.
This boat closed upon them and at length came up to
them, and who should they see on board of her hut our
goddess, who told Kuramoto to ask the Mikado ( at that time
an empress) to build a temple for her in Miyajima (Itsuku-
shima), and promised to protect the Mikado’s government for
ever. Kuramoto forthwith made his way up to Kioto, and
recounted to the government what he had seen, and the
instructions he had received. It happened that there was
some sort of mischief or trouble on foot at the time in
Kioto, and the government, discerning in this a proof of our
goddess’s anger at the neglect shown to her, at once gave
orders for the building of her abode. Kuramoto came
back with his order for the temple — delighted enough, no
doubt ! — and applied himself to finding out the best place
for it. While engaged in this, down from the top of the
mountain flew a bird, and went right ahead of the boat in
which Kuramoto was making his exploration. Kuramoto —
as we must see by this time — was far too wise ‘‘an old
fellow ” to neglect a chance like this ; he followed the bird
till it stopped, and it stopped at the site of the present

124

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

temple, upon tlie building of which Kuramoto at once set to
work, continuing with such energy that he got it completed
in November of the same year. I am sorry to say there is
another account ; got up, I should conjecture, by some one
who grudged Kuramoto his fame and honour : this says
that the goddess was placed on the island as long ago as the
time of the emperor Sujin-Tenno, who was reigning when
Christ was born, and reigned twenty-nine years afterwards.
I cannot determine which account is correct, and for a
reason which will appear from the following quotation from
a written communication made to me in English on the
subject.* “ There was a fighting between the one called
Minamotono-Hironari, who kept all valuable writing about
Miyajima, and Ochi-Yoshitaka ; and the former was totally
defeated, and his house was all burnt down; therefore we
lost all valuable writings about Miyajima in that time.
However, when Haishiyogoku Kiyomori was the prince of
Akinokuni, the buildings were made much larger, and
it became almost the finest temple in Japan.”

There is also at Miyajima, superbly situated on a hill,
a Buddhist temple of a thousand ‘‘ mats and likewise
a pagoda. The town and vicinity are celebrated for their
beauty in the season of blossoms, and have admirable tea-
houses and gardens. One such place in particular, which
we visited, known, I believe, as the Maple tea-house and
garden, must be a charming place in spring and summer.

Before turning from this very delightful spot, I must
repeat an interesting story about the “ fighting ” that oc-
curred here nearly three and a half centuries ago, the record
of which Mr. Satow has quite recently published in connec-
tion with a history of the Christian church at Yamaguchi,
in Suwo, next to Choshiu.* The characters concerned are
Yoshitaka, governing prince of the district, Harukata (who
was known previously as Takafusa), his most powerful vassal,
and Motonari, a neighbouring magnate and general. The
first act (if I may so far assume the dramatic style) reveals

Trausactions of the Eoyal Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vii. pt. 2, 1879.

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

125

Yoshitaka at a banquet given by himself in his castle of
Yamaguchi in honour of envoys from the Shogun and the
ruler of the province of Bungo : an alarm is given, Harukata
being discovered marching on the town with an armed host.
Yoshitaka sends for his uncle and cousin, but they prove
disloyal, and do not come ; his ofl&cers propose to send and
slay them ; but Yoshitaka refuses, still hoping them loyal ;
his more courageous friends offer to march out and meet
the enemy, but he hesitates and wavers. At last a traitor
induces him to abandon the castle, and he flies with three
thousand followers to a neighbouring Buddhist monastery.
In the night most of these followers desert him ; in the
morning he is surrounded by the enemy, with five times
his own numbers. He offers terms ; but all conditions are
refused. Night comes on, and he slips away to the sea-
shore to cross the Inland Sea to Chikuzen, but the wind is
against him, and he cannot pass ; he creeps to another
monastery, and is there discovered and again surrounded, and
finally commits hara-hiri (disembowels himself) as the last
resource, in those days, of a noble (Japanese) mind. This
happens September 80, 1551. But before applying the
knife, Yoshitaka wrote a letter to Motonari, entrusting to
him the task of avenging his death. Motonari wept on
reading it, and vowed to punish Harukata’s treason, but
prudently resolved to wait for a more favourable opportunity.
In 1553 he began to lay his plans for attacking Harukata,
obtained from the Imperial court a commission for the
punishment of the traitor, and summoned supporters from
near and far. In June 1554 Motonari and his sons put
their forces into motion, captured several of the enemy’s
strong places, and were victorious in a first engagement with
a detachment of Harukata’s troops. But Harukata brings
together 30,000 men, while Motonari has but 5000, and the
latter therefore proceeds to make up by stratagem what he
is deficient of in numbers. This brings us to the second act.
Motonari begins to fortify this sacred island of Miyajima
(Miya-shima), raises fortresses and redoubts on the main-
land hard by, and on the little island of Niho (completed

126

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

June 1585), and affects to regret having wasted time in
fortifying a place still so easily to be taken. Harukata
marches into the trap, goes off with 20,000 men to
Ihakuni, which is near to the island, ferries them over in
junks, captures the island (to the horror, doubtless, of the
sacred deer and monkeys), and sends off his defiances to
Motonari. This is in October. Now comes the third and
last act, premising that in the interval Motonari hastens
down to Kusatsu, on the mainland close by Miyajima, thus
cutting off Harukata’s retreat ; and that, although most of
the samurai of the province thought Motonari’s defeat was
certain, and consequently held off, he had 300 fighting
vessels placed at his disposal from the province of lyo, in
Shikoku, and Providence sent him a fine night-tempest to
aid in covering his operations. This enabled him to fall
like a storm-god upon his foe. During the tempestuous
night (the last of the month), Harukata’s army sleeps ; no
sentries are posted, the storm being a sufficient guard, they
think ; but the troops of Motonari are more than awake,
they are thirsting for slaughter ; they embark ; they stand
over to the sacred, or rather say desecrated, island; they
silently land. As the day breaks, their battle conches sound
the assault ; they rush upon the fortifications ; the too-
numerous defenders get in each other’s way ; the Motonari
men storm over them ; the defences are carried. In vain
Harukata endeavours to rally his men ; they break away
from him in terror; they rush to their junks; they drown
by thousands in attempting to crowd on board of them.
Poor Harukata himself, though a hero, is a stout and there-
fore a slow one ; as well as he can he pants and presses and
sways his way to the shore ; but boat there is none, and
like his lord against whom he turned, he too has only the
one road of death along which he can now travel : he com-
mits liara-ldri. In such straits the French, they tell us,
take their courage in both hands ; but the Japanese of the
now bygone time used to take his courage in one hand and
his cowardice in the other, and so put an end to himself ; not
an altogether admirable ending for anybody at any time.

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

127

A delightful run southward of a few hours among the
islands brought us in the evening again into the route for
Shimonoseki, and at 11 p.m. we sighted the Hesaki light,
at the eastern entrance of these remarkably narrow. straits.
This light is near the northern extremity of the great island
of Kiushiu, which is separated by these straits of Shimono-
seki from the mainland of Japan, or, strictly speaking, from
the great island of Honshiu, which is by far the largest of
the four great islands of which Japan is chiefly composed.
Mr. McKitchie and his lighthouse staff, and the Meiji Maru
with her captain and crew, were busily at work at an early
hour in the morning upon the changing of buoys, the sup-
plying of stores, and other duties of their department ; but
it was not until a later hour that I found myself on deck,
admiring and enjoying the beautiful shore scenery. The
place was not without interest to an Englishman, as these
are the waters into which steamed, in 1863, the squadron
of Christian England (composed of nine war-ships, carrying
100 guns, and leagued with three French, four Dutch, and
one American ship, carrying together more than another
hundred guns), to blaze away at the lives and batteries of
the subjects of the prince of Nagato — Nagato being a small
county 60 miles long and about 15 miles broad for the greater
part of its length, and 40 miles at its very broadest point.
The first crime to be punished was the warning off from
forbidden waters (June 25, 1863) of the American steamer
Pembroke by a blank discharge, and the attacking of her by
two local men-of-war on the following day because she re-
fused to move away, but so attacking her that she sustained
no injury. An American writer whom I often quote in this
work says : ‘‘As a matter of international law, the Ja-
panese had a perfect right to close the Straits of Shimono-
seki, since the right to use it was not stipulated by treaty,
and each nation has a right to a league of marine territory
along its shores, and to the straits and water-passages
commanded by cannon-shot. . . . The Pembroke had no right

* INIr, W. E. Griffis, M.A., in ‘ The Mikado’s Empire.’

128

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

where she was. She disregarded the warning of blank
cartridges.” However, America, like ourselves, recognising
some other principles as much higher and more commanding
than mere “ right ” and “ justice,” her envoy sent down the
Wyoming to take retribution, and on the 16th of July she
had a sharp engagement with the two Choshiu ships and the
shore batteries, blowing up one of the vessels and sinking
the other. His own ship was much knocked about also,
having five men killed and six wounded. At about the
same time some French and Dutch ships were also warned
off by blank fire, and therefore some French and Dutch
men-of-war went and blazed away at the Shimonoseki
batteries with shell-guns. “ Ample vengeance was thus
taken,” says Mr. Griffis, “ by Dutch, French, and Americans.
No British vessel was injured.” But this was an affair of
a sort such as England could not of course he kept out of,
and although “ orders from H. M. Government forbidding
British participation in the needless and wicked act of war
arrived after the squadron had sailed, and Sir E. Alcock
was then recalled to explain the situation ” (Griffis), in went
the English ships on the 5th of September 1864, and with
Americans, French, and Dutchmen bombarded the batteries,
landed men to silence them, and removed the guns. In the
next month the representatives of the same four powers
decided that it would he a good thing to add to this bom-
bardment a demand for three million dollars^ as “ indemnities
and expenses for the hostile acts of the prince of Nagato,”
and they insisted on the money being paid ; and it has been
paid, the last instalment having been handed over in 1875.
It is the present government of the Mikado, struggling
bravely along the path of civilisation and progress which
England, France, and America have pressed them to pursue,
that has had to provide the money, and that too at a time
when its chief difficulty in pursuing the new course has been
a financial one.

“ 0 wad some power the giftie gie us,

To see oursels as ithers see us.”

This is the spot where the bombarding fleets lay ; there

CHAP. VI.]

THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

129

were tlie batteries that we overthrew ; and here, at my side,
as I look at both, is a Choshiu officer, now of the Japanese
navy, who was on shore there doing the best he conld to
resist the Christians. He smiles when the words Christian
and Shimonoseki get by any chance thrown together, or near
each other, in conversation. Mr. Griffis says “ the total ex-
penses incurred by the United States in this expedition were
less than 25,000 dollars,” and gives 785,000 dollars as the
share of the indemnity which it claimed and took. Worthy
sons of a noble sire ! In looking at the spot where lie the
English dead killed in the engagement referred to I could
but regret their loss.*

The Straits of Shimonoseki are very narrow, less than half
a mile broad at one part, and as they connect the Inland Sea
with the Sea of Japan, a strong and swift tide oscillates
through them. The town, of 10,000 inhabitants, lies along
the northern bank near the eastern end of the strait, and is,
I should think, quite two miles in length. We landed at
1 P.M., to look through the town and its temple, while the
Meiji Marti proceeded with her work at what is fast becoming
known as the Eokuren lighthouse, from some misprinting of
the name. It is really situated on the island of Mutsure,
and marks the western entrance of the straits. I observe,
however, that even the lighthouse department now some-
times adopt the erroneous name of Eokuren. Our first visit
on landing at Shimonoseki was to the Shinto temple, which
is situated at some little height up the hillside, but has its
torii standing close to the sea’s edge. There is an interest-
ing legend — but why should I call it a legend ? why not a
history? — connected with the establishment of this temple.

* I have purposely touched but
lightly ill this work upon the conduct
of ourselves and others in connection
with the bombardments and pecu-
niary extortions of both the Kago-
shima and the Shimonoseki affairs,
as it is neither necessary nor desir-
able to revive the controversies that
grew out of them. I ask my readers
VOL. II.

to believe, however, that the feeling
of aversion with which I regard
those acts has not been lightly
entertained, but is the result of a
careful perusal of despatches and
other documents and publications.
The Shimonoseki demand was en-
tirely unjustifiable, and the money
taken ought to be returned.

180

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

I could not obtain full particulars of it ; all I could learn was
that the strong current of the straits was so persistent in
carrying away the stones which were to form part of its
foundation that it became necessary to appease the offended
powers by the sacrifice of a life, and some beautiful and
devoted woman, offering herself, was lashed to one of the
stones before it was lowered into the rushing waters. The
offering was accepted, the difficulty was thus got over, and
the noble martyr has a shrine, which she well deserves,
devoted to her memory. I am sorry that I cannot help to
immortalise her, in however small a degree, by recording
her name here.

Our subsequent stroll through the town was very inter-
esting, as we had leisure to look carefully into the shops, and
note the articles of trade and manufacture special to a Jap-
anese sea-side town, which, down to the meanest and poorest
things, were curious and interesting to us strangers. Nor
could one forget that Shimonoseki has its historic interest.
Hither, nearly seven hundred years ago, the Taira men were
driven by the victories of Yoshitsune, and here the two
armies prepared for a further struggle, to take place this
time upon the water. The Taira men are said to have had
five hundred junks, and to have embarked in them not merely
their wives and families and aged persons, but court ladies,
including the dowager-empress with the dethroned child-
Mikado and the sacred ball and sword (the duplicate). The
Minamoto men, unincumbered with women and children,
manned seven hundred junks. The battle was heroically
fought, at first going in favour of the Taira men ; then by
acts of personal prowess Yoshitsune turned it in his favour,
and in the end utterly overwhelmed his enemies. Warriors,
old people, children, ladies, alike perished. The grandmother
of the child-Mikado, in presence of the mother, leaped with
the child into the sea, and both were drowned with the
others.* The sacred emblems were recovered — as they were

* For a fuller account of the overthrow of the Tail a at Shimonoseki,
see vol. i. p. 150.

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

131

quite certain to be. If the history of Japan were as well
known in Europe as that of Greece and Eome, the Shimo-
noseki waters would perhaps become as celebrated, and for
the same cause, as those of Syracuse and Actium.

By 3.15 p.M. the Meiji was again at hand to receive us,
and we were soon passing along the western branch of the
straits, on a lovely afternoon, observing the little shrines
and temples which are to be seen in picturesque places along
the shore opposite to Shimonoseki ; and beyond, on both
shores, and up the wooded hillsides, the beacons which
assist in marking the channel, and which carry small lights
at night. Villages nestled in every sheltered bay, with
their picturesque junks and boats clustered in front of
them ; and as we got round on the western side of the land,
where the ship-channel curves away northwards, we came
upon the broad shining surface of the smooth sea, that doubt-
less overspread many a once beautiful landscape, of which
only the mountain-tops, in the form of islands, are now visible.
But even as we looked over this smooth sea, shining with more
than rainbow promise of a calm passage round to Nagasaki,
whither we now were bound, a breeze began to stir the dis-
tant surface and travel towards us. Scarcely had it reached
us before this breeze got broken into gusts, which separately
smote the sea, and made it foam wherever they struck it.
Meanwhile the atmosphere began to thicken, tha mists to
gather into clouds, and the clouds to cluster into stormy
masses ; and before we had taken the lighthouse passengers
on board at Mutsure (Eokuren) it was obvious that we were
in for a roughish night of it. And this, I am told, we had :
but I can say nothing of it from personal knowledge, for I
went early to my shelf, and only awoke to find our ship at
anchor on a fine morning in the lovely harbour of Nagasaki
— second to none perhaps in loveliness. On landing, some
of us became the guests of a gentleman * well famed for
years past in Japan, and whose residence, Iponmats (One
Pine-tree House, the one pine-tree growing up through the

K 2

* Mr. Glover.

132

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

roof of the conservatory into the sunshine), has the finest
view obtainable in this neighbourhood of fine views. As the
grounds of Iponmats include a lawn-tennis ground, and as
Nagasaki has some remarkably pleasant ladies resident in it
(the gentlemen are duly complimented, I hope, in that state-
ment— at least their good taste is recognised), we found
ourselves under fortunate conditions for the four days, all
too short, which we remained in it.

Our first day in Nagasaki was notable for the firing of an
imperial salute at noon, with foreign men-of-war dressed in
flags for the occasion, and on inquiry I was informed that
this was a celebration in honour of the coronation of the first
Mikado, Jimmu-Tenno, and that all the men-of-war of Japan
in other ports were at the same time saluting this imperial
and divine personage. Now there is a doubt among learned
men whether Jimmu-Tenno ever was a veritable man, and
perhaps the doubt may have some sort of justification con-
sidering that he is reputed to be only fifth in descent from
the sun-goddess, that his parents alighted from heaven upon
a mountain top, and that he himself is Said to 'have been
guided in his invasion of Yamashino by a demigod in the
form of a gigantic black crow. Still, he is set down in all
the official histories of Japan now published as the first
Mikado.. As the date of the commencement of his reign is
given (660 b.c.), and as his exploits are recounted at great
length and with great particularity, we will not, here at
least, he so impolite as to question his historical existence
or distinction. But taking these for granted, and neverthe-
less remembering that for many ages past he has been deified
and worshipped, it certainly was a little startling to find
guns thundering at midday in a commercial port in his
honour, and foreign war- vessels hoisting joyous colours in
sympathy with the celebration.

' Our stay of four days in Nagasaki was made available for
visiting the government (Japanese) and some private estab-
lishments there, and also for inspecting the island coal-mines
of Takashima. In the latter, by the courtesy of the pro-
prietor and managers, we had a luxurious luncheon laid out

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

133

200 feet below tbe ground — or, possibly, below the sea, for
these mines run under the sea in places. Tiffin was spread
in a chamber hewn out of two very thick strata of coal,
one 10 feet and one 8 feet thick, with but 2 feet of earth
between. The chamber was connected with the ventilators,
whitewashed of course, and lighted with safety-lamps. After
luncheon, in order to verify the nature of the chamber, a man
was brought in with tools, and opened up the coal in several
places.* While waiting for the steamer, I climbed the hill
near the pit, passing among the houses of the pitmen and
pitwomen, both of whom work in the mine all but naked,
and on my way down I met a man occasionally who seemed
to consider that coal-dust alone was a sufficient attire for a
philosopher. On the hilltop was a little churchyard, afford-
ing scores of proofs that among even these poor miners a
few flowers or a bit of green or a little something in a cup
or a vase could be found and carried to the hilltop as a
tribute to some dear one dead.

As what I have to say about the government establishments
upon the shores of Nagasaki harbour is somewhat technical,
I cheerfully consign it to a footnote. t I ought to notice.

* We are indebted to Mr. Glover
and Mr. Martin for mueh kindness
and courtesy on the occasion of this
visit.

t The following are a few particu-
lars of the government establishments
in Nagasaki which are connected
with the manufacturing section of
the public works department. The
engine works, which are situated at
Akunoura, in a sheltered position on
the west side of the harbour, about a
mile and a half from the entrance,
were established about twenty-three
years ago, and were chiefly con-
structed and conducted for some years
under the superintendence of Dutch
engineers. 'Shese works cover about
six acres of ground, and have during
tbe last four and a half years been
entirely reconstructed. Tlie machine

and erecting shop is a building 150
feet long by 80 feet wide, in three
bays. The centre bay, being 40 feet
wide by 30 feet bigli, will be fitted
with a 10-ton travelling crane. The
side bays are each 20 feet wide by 14
feet high. The boiler shop is 130
feet long by 70 feet wide, in two
bays, one 50 feet wide by 25 feet
high, and one 20 feet wide by 14 feet
high. In this shop at the time of my
visit they were fitting up a hydraulic
rivetter and a 16-ton crane, over
which the roof is 40 feet high. The
livetter and crane will be worked by
the same accumulator, and when
these are complete they will be able
to construct both land and marine
boilers of any size up to 13 feet 6
inches diameter, and of jfiates 1 j inch
I hick. The foundry is 130 feet long

134

JAFAN.

[chap. VI.

however, here in the text, the very large stone graving-
dock, one of the finest in the world, which the Japanese
government are building, and which is now rapidly ap-
proaching completion. At Nagasaki I had the pleasure
of again meeting the Eev. Mr. Andrews, of the Church of

by 46 feet wide by 21 feet high, sup-
plied with two cupolas, four brass
furnaces, oue 10- and one 5-tou crane.
The forge is 1 30 feet long by 50 feet
wide by 18 feet high, and contains
sixteen blacksmith’s fires, one 5-cwt.
and one 2-ton steam hammer, with
suitable furnace and cianes. The
coppersmith’s shop is 50 feet long by
25 feet wide, with a small galvanising
shop attached. The store, whicli is
270 feet long by 25 feet wide, is well
stocked with all necessary materials.
The office, gate-houses, two landing
places, and the sea-walls are also ne\v.
On the wharf there is a pair of sheer-
legs capable of lifting 40 tons. In
front of the wharf there is about 18
feet of water at low tide, and it can
easily be increased to 25 feet if ne-
cessary. The works employ 475 men
at present, not including officers,
clerks, etc., or contractors’ men em-
ployed on improvements. The prin-
cipal work done in the factory up
to the present has been repairs to
steamers, at an average of about two
per month. With regard to new
work, during the last four years and
a half they have constructed thirty
marine and land boilers, one or tw'o
pairs of small marine engines, two
pairs of hauling engines, with pumps,
etc , for mines. They had in February,
when I saw the works, orders for tw'o
pairs of hauling engines, four special
pumps, a pair of simple marine
engines of 500 indicated horse-power,
and a pair of compound of 1000 indi-
cated horse-power, with boilers, etc.
In connection with this department
the government are constructing at

Tatagami the large dry dock men-
tioned in the text, under the superin-
tendence of Mr. Vincent Florent, who
was kind enough to show us over it.
The dock was commenced about
twelve years ago, but very little was
done until Mr. Florent was engaged
to complete it six years ago. The
dock is 460 feet long by 89 feet
wide at the top, with 29 feet of water
on the sill. The caisson was sent
out from England in pieces, and is
being built up in the dock. The
pumping machinery, which consists
of four 13-inch centrifugal pumps
driven by two horizontal engines, was
made at Akunoura. I was sorry to
see this dock so completely cut oft'
from the engineering establishment ;
a better site existed close to the lat-
ter. Opposite the dock, on the other
side of the harbour, at Koski, tliere
is a patent hauling-up slip, also
belonging to the government, which
is capable of taking on vessels of 1600
tons (gross tonnage). It was built
about eleven or twelve years ago by
Mr. T. B. Glover of Nagasaki, but
was afterwards bought over by the
government. At the slip they had
orders for building two small coast-
ing steamers for private owners, and
one large steamer for the mining
department. These three departments
are under the control of one director,
INlr. Watanabi, and the head office
is at Akunoura. The government
appeared to me to have a very valu-
able young officer in the person of
Mr. F. R. Storie, the superintending
engineer.

CHAP. VI.] THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI.

135

England Missionary Society, who, with Mrs. Andrews, came
out in the same ship as ourselves from Suez. They were
good enough to show us the little new church and schools in
which they hope to labour for years to come in educating,
in more ways than one, such of the resident Japanese adults
and children as may be willing to receive their instructions
and ministrations. It would he well if missionary authorities
could always obtain such services as theirs, which, I feel
confident, will be conducted with a wise regard to the excep -
tional, and often trying, conditions under which they have
to work. Their church buildings and residence are situated
on the western side of the old Dutch settlement of Deshima
(where I am afraid the Dutch did not always set a very
Christian example), commanding a beautiful view down the
harbour, between the blooming hills on either side of it.
Fortunately Pappenherg, down the steep sides of which the
Japanese Christians were hurled into the sea by thousands
two hundred and fifty years ago, is not within their home-
view, and I ’ hope they will not remember too often that it
was at Nagasaki that Christians were before their time
crucified. May they and their present work prosper !

We embarked at Nagasaki at midnight on Friday, 14th
of February, in the ToMo Mam, one of the fine steamers of
the Japanese company known as the Mitsu Bishi Steamshij)
Company. The accommodation in these steamers, the
largest of which run between Yokohama and Shanghai
through the Inland Sea, is excellent, and the speed of the
Tohio Mara was most satisfactory. Leaving the harbour at
1 A.M. on the 15th, we were at Shimonoseki by two o’clock
the following afternoon, and at Kobe at noon next day,
learning, as we passed on to the anchorage, that the pro-
jecting land which shelters the bay of Hiogo and Kobe is
artificial, having been formed six hundred years ago. We
also had a good opportunity, on this bright day of warm
sunshine, of observing the fortifications and the lighthouse.
Soon after two o’clock we were in a railway train ea route
for the ancient and historic castled city of Osaka — great for
both its military and its commercial importance.

136

JAPAN.

[chap. VI.

Osaka is one of the three largest cities of Japan, having a
population of over 600,000 persons. By the courtesy of the
governor, Mr. Watanahe, I was able to observe the growth
of this city from its foundation up to the present time in a
series of maps which have been preserved, and lately re-
produced. It is said to have been near the site of Osaka
that the first and, as many suppose, the mythic Mikado
Jimmu-Tenno landed on his progress eastward, and near here
also that he was defeated and induced to reconsider his
purposes. By means of suitable consultations and cere-
monies, he ascertained that the sun-goddess was displeased
with his continual advances eastward, instead of moving,
like the sun, the other way, and he prudently turned in a
different direction. It was here that Nohunaga, towards
the close of the sixteenth century, not only besieged his
Buddhist enemies in their strongly defended temple, but
gave to the sword some thousands of people, of both sexes
and all ages, and sent a boatload of their ears and noses
as a caution to the remaining defenders, who ultimately gave
way to him. Upon the improvement of this city, as upon
that of Kioto, the great Taiko (Hideyoshi) afterwards set to
work, deepening the river, digging canals, and building the
immense castle which has long been so famous, and the
strengthening of which is said to have engaged his last
thoughts. It was in this castle that lyeyasu, the first of
the Tokugawa Shoguns, besieged the Taiko’s son, Hideyori,
in the year 1615, burning the citadel, and slaying Hideyori
and thousands of his supporters. It was from Osaka, in
January 1868, that the last Tycoon, Keiki, started for the
great battles near Kioto which determined the fate of the
empire and assured to J apan its present form of government,
and it was to Osaka Castle that his beaten and shattered
army retreated for dear life, only, however, to burn its
citadel and to finally flee from it before the victorious forces
of the Mikado.

( 137 )

CHAPTER VII.

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

Approach to the city — AVell-mauaged railways — The imperial reception-
house — Governor Watanabe— A nursery garden — Views over the city —
Kozu, the temple of deified emperors — Another Shinto temple — An
ancient Buddhist temple — Keminiscences of Prince Shotoku-taishi —
Tlie temple of the sea-gods — A musical service therein — A prehistoric
boat — Divine jewels (magatama) — A Japanese fair — The castle of Osaka
— Its modern arsenal — Immense monoliths — A ceiling of arrows — A
gilded roof — The castle keep — Inspections of barracks — Studious soldiers
— A private Japanese dinner — A public dinner — Japanese music and
dances — A speech by the President of the Chamber of Commerce — A
pretty compliment — Dramatic performances — A purchasing expedition
— The power of art — Presents — The imperial mint — The new coinage
— Output of the mint.

On leaving Kobe, and before coming in view of Osaka, the
neighbourhood of a great commercial city was made manifest
by the presence on the distant bay of from two to three
hundred junks of all sizes, including many of obviously
sea-going character. The district through which the train
bore us was no less significant of agricultural activity, for
although much of the land was but poor, consisting indeed
of little more than sand washed freely down from the
neighbouring hills, yet every foot of it was carefully culti-
vated, and the road swarmed with villages. We passed
through several tea-plantations on our way, and we were
informed that the district is a notable one for the dis-
tillation of the best description of sake, the native wine.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon as we rolled through this
land of industry and peace, and it was with pleasure that
we presently saw the high white castle walls of Osaka

138

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

shine brightly forth. On this short railway journey,
and on our arrival at the Osaka station, we had renewed
evidences of the efficient business-like manner in which
the Japanese have taken to railway management, and like-
wise to the English police system, nothing being wanting
to the orderly and rapid despatch of trains and passengers,
and the stations being such as would improve the credit of
many English towns if transferred to them.

Upon the bank of the main river, and at no great distance
from the famous castle, are the European buildings of the
great government mint, including a handsome residence
known as the imperial reception house, which on one or
two occasions has accommodated the emperor during his
visits,* and is available for the general use of the state.
There not being yet a European hotel in Osaka — at least we
saw and heard of none — we w^ere courteously received in this
official house, a distinction doubtless due to our association
with his excellency the minister of marine. Here were our
headquarters for more than a week, during which, however,
we made our excursion to the ancient capital of Nara, and
were besides so hospitably treated by the governor, the
military authorities, and the leading merchants of the city,
that we seldom found ourselves within the walls of our
residence save at night.

The day succeeding our arrival was spent in company
of the governor, Mr. Watanahe, wffio, like the governors of
Kioto and Tokio, holds his appointment from the crown.
The kindness of this gentleman to us was equal to the high
reputation which he bears, and he is a man who has rendered

* “ His imperuil majesty the
Tenuo visited Yamato province, to
otfer personal worship to Jininm Tei,
on the second month of this year,
1877, and on his retm-n from that
province his majesty made a short
stay at Osaka, and on the fourteenth
day of the second month, the Sempu-
kuwaii (imperial receptioji house)
of the mint was converted into the
‘ Anzaisho ’ (temporarj residence of

the Mikado\ On the 15th his
majesty condescended to inspect the
mint, and before retiring ordered
presents to he made to the officials,
foreign and Japanese, according to
their ranks. On the 16th his majesty
the Teuno left the ‘ Anzaisho ’
(Sempukuwau) at 9.10 a.m., and
returned to Saikei .Kioto) by train.”
— ‘ Mint Eeport.’

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF OSAKA

139

signal service to the state. Besides handsome presents,
exhibiting the productions of the city in artificial flowers
and other specialties, he on one occasion took me into the
sword room of his residence, and hade me choose from
among at least a score of swords, most of which had associa-
tions that gave them special value to him, any one I pre-
ferred. As politely as I could I declined the privilege, hut
on getting back to Kioto a few weeks afterwards I found
awaiting me as a present from him a splendid sword by one
of the first makers, Yoshikage of Bizen, valued in the
official certificate that accompanied it at one hundred and
thirty pieces of gold. I mention this as an illustration of
the thoroughness of the generous attentions which were
shown to us, even in the provinces, and far from the
capital.

The first place to which the governor conducted us
was a famous nursery garden and tea-house, where we saw
to the best advantage possible at the season of the year
(February 17) the characteristic plants of Japan — miniature
evergreens, blossoming miniature plum shrubs, miniature
pine-trees, small sage palms, small red-berry plants, drooping
shrubs grown in pots, Chinese and Japanese bamboo-plants,
curious grasses and ferns, camellias and camellia creepers,
plants curiously grown into circular and serpentine forms,
strange cacti, etc. Visiting a small tower, we gained a
splendid view over the city — that city, the reader may
remember, over which the ancient emperor Nintoku looked
when he realised the distress of his people, and the revival
of which he regarded as evidence of his own prosperity.
Osaka was not then, however, as it now is, a city of nearly
one hundred thousand houses and more than three hundred
thousand people, neglecting suburbs and the towns that all
but adjoin it. At a later period of the day we ascended the
spot on which Nintoku stood, upon which a temple now
stands, where he is worshipped, and from which the view
over the city and plains beyond is superb. Nintoku reigned
fifteen centuries and a half ago, and I was shown a plan of
the city at that period ; beyond a few temples there was but

140

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

little city to speak of. In a map made seven hundred to
eight hundred years ago, which also we saw, vessels were
shown floating where the centre of the city now is. From
the elevation of which I have spoken the Venetian character
of the modern city was very visible, but not so manifest as
one sees it to be on driving about the streets. It is every-
where intersected with rivers and canals, spanned by innu-
merable bridges, and alive with countless vessels and boats
gliding hither and thither.

The first temple visited — that just before referred to —
was the Shinto temple of Kozu, where several gods (kami)
are worshipped, and thirty six poets are celebrated. The
chief kami are the emperors Nintoku, Chuai, Ojin, Jingu
(empress), and Kichiu, their worship commencing a thousand
years ago, in the reign of Seiwa-Tenno.

The next temple visited was likewise of the Shinto type,
and known as that of Ikudama (in Higashi nari gori). The
gods worshipped here are two in number, viz. 1. Ikukuni
dama, and 2. Tarukuni dama. These gods were first
adored in the forty-ninth year of Jimmu-Tenno’s reign, and
have therefore been worshipped for nearly twenty-five cen-
turies. This temple is also very ancient, having been
originally founded on what is now the site of the castle, in
the third year of the reign of Ojin-Tenno (273 a.d.), and
subsequently removed to its present site in the year 1585.
At this temple also we were met by the priests, who took
great interest in our visit, and explained the uses, or rather
services, of the goliei and “ mirror ” to us.

We were next conducted to the ancient and celebrated
Buddhist temple of Korujo, in Tennoji. This temple was
founded in the very early days of Buddhism, at the request
of the famous prince Shotoku-taishi, of whom I have written
much in former chapters. It was so founded in the year
589 A.D., but was removed to its present site ten years later.
It has existed, therefore, for nearly thirteen hundred years,
and includes among its treasures, which were obligingly
shown to us, several sacred books brought over from Korea
in those early days ; an arrow used in the struggle against

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

141

Buddhism ; Shotoku-taishi’s sword ; a history of the founda-
tion of the temple written hy him, and hearing the impress
of his hand ; his image of Buddha ; a ceremonial gown of
his ; a manuscript seventeen hundred years old ; an image
of Kwannon thirteen hundred years old ; a brass globe one
thousand years old ; and several other interesting antiquities.
One need hardly say that this temple and its memorials
cover almost the entire period of the existence of the religion
of Buddha in Japan A curious scholar, learned in Bud-
dhistic and Japanese literature, might possibly draw some
interesting parallels between the Indian prince Sidarrtha
(Buddha) and his ardent Japanese disciple Prince Tiyoto
(Shotoku).

The last temple visited this day was the most famous
among mariners in all Japan — that of Sumiyoshi (in Nishinari
Yori Setsu). It is a Shinto temple, and we were met at the
entrance by the priests, in mauve dresses with black caps.
Four gods are worshipped here. It is a very ancient temple,
dating from the eleventh year of the reign of the warrior-
empress Jingu Kogo (212 a.d ), to whom it is dedicated as
the patron Jcami of all who travel by sea It, therefore, has
existed for nearly seventeen centuries. ' The three gods of
the temple were first worshipped in the first reign of that
empress. They are —

1. Soko-tsutsu, God of the Sea Bottom.

2. Naka-tsutsu, God of the Middle Sea.

3. Uwa-tsutsu, God of the Sea Surface, and Wave Con-

troller.

As a fourth, the empress Jingu is herself here worshipped
under her own name of Oki-naga-Tarashi-hime. The priests
could not tell me when she was first worshipped. The name
of the temple, Sumiyoshi, signifies Fortunate Eesidence
of the Four Incorporated Gods. This is the famous temple
referred to in the chapter on the Shinto religion as that of the
god whom the old ex-governor of Tosa vainly sought to pro-
pitiate a thousand years ago by throwing nusa into the sea,
but who was only appeased hy the sacrifice of his excellency’s

142

JAPAN.

[chap. vit.

mirror. Its present aspect is a very prosperous one, the
temple itself having been lately rebuilt apparently, and its
precincts adorned with magnificent lanterns in bronze and
marble, with a large number of others of inferior magnitude
and character, but many of them very fine indeed. The
vessels of sake presented to the gods at the shrine were
freely served, and certainly it was not the fault of the
Japanese or of their priests if the bottom, the middle, and
the surface of the sea were not all as peaceful as the soul of
the veriest landsman could possibly desire. Not only were
the temple and its accessories such as I have described, but
to add to the interest and impressiveness of the place, the
head priest was so courteous as to have a musical service
performed before us by the ministers, the musicians, and
the virgin priestesses of the temple. This took place, not
in the main building, but in a separate and smaller one,
hung with votive pictures. The arrangements and proceed-
ings were so much like those which we afterwards witnessed
at the still more sacred shrines of Ise that I need not here
attempt any description.

From the temples we took a stroll to the river-side, over
one of the steeply-curved bridges that few but experts can
surmount, and thence were taken a long and swift run in
OMi jinrihi-shas to the museum of Osaka, a small institution,
modelled upon the European type. Among the many in-
teresting antiquities there seen was one of a remarkable
character. This was a very ancient boat, wrought out of
solid timber, and dug up from a depth of 30 feet below, the
present level of the soil of the city. The portion of this
boat which was recovered was 36 feet long and 5 feet
broad, and was formed in two pieces, joined together by a
scarph 5 J feet long near the centre of the boat. It was made
before metal was known or brought into use, and had no
other fastenings but those which resulted from the ingenious
scarphing of the parts, from the tie of a longitudinal keelson
piece which overran the scarph, and from the manner in
which the thwarts were worked. Some sort of mastic was
probably employed to help in making the scarph water-

CHAP. VII,]

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

143

tight. Although formed probably with flint implements,
before the iron and bronze ages, it was well built, and now
hears distinct traces of what appears to be an ornamental
moulding worked upon the outside of the gunwale. It was
difficult to determine of what wood it was built, hut it was
considered by the Japanese to be either of camphor wood or
mulberry-tree. How many things have happened, in Japan
as elsewhere, since the hands that wrought her have ceased
to ply their trade — possibly the expedition of Jimmu-Tenno
to Osaka among other things !

There was also shown us in the museum a small hut very
good collection, as I think, of magatama jewels, which are
beautifully wrought carved pieces of hard stone, perforated
at the end. They are very ancient and rare, coming down,
it is supposed, from the Divine Period, being occasionally
dug out of the soil, and not otherwise obtainable — except in
counterfeit or imitation. After taking tea in a little secluded
garden tea-house — tea made of the powdered leaf, by an ac-
complished master of the art of mixing it, whose deliberation
and ceremony in carrying out each stage of the process was
the more amusing as it exhibited what young ladies are
taught as a high accomplishment — and after following up
the tea with a parting glass of champagne, drunk in an
elevated summer-house with the governor, we took our leave
of him, and drove in ouv Jinrikis to a sort of fair. There,
entering a series of booths in succession, we saw men and
women walking over half a dozen yards of burning logs
with naked feet, a dwarf, a lady with a face of horrible
deformity, a series of very well-made wax figures, a tiger, and,
better than all, the common people in crowds amusing
themselves with admirable good humour, and behaviour
orderly in the extreme. It was now time to return to our
home in the mint, which we did at a speed that made
jinriki men running tandem more respected and pitied
than ever.

Our next day was spent in visiting the fine old castle of
Osaka, with its large moats, grand gateways, huge monoliths,
and ruined palaces and keep ; also, within its outer limits.

144

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

the modern arsenal and arms manufactory, which have been
established in European fashion, and appear to be working
with much efficiency. During the recent rebellion in Satsuma
great demands were thrown upon this arsenal, and a large
quantity of arms underwent repair and renovation there.
Much of work of the same kind was still proceeding, together
with the manufacture of ammunition for small arms. The
buildings were solid and good, rock foundations being easily
obtainable for most buildings near to Osaka Castle ; the
machinery was likewise good, and in good condition. I did not
observe a single European, officer or man, throughout these
works. As it rained heavily during our visit, we were
unable to make a close inspection of the large new buildings
now constructing as a factory for great guns, but they were
obviously of a very substantial kind, and the erection of a.
great-gun manufactory in Japan may be noted as a sign of
the times.

An officer sent by the general commanding the troops in
the Osaka district next conducted us over the castle bridge,
through the great gateway, up the long flight of broad steps
to the level of the old palace and of the existing official
buildings. It would be difficult to exaggerate the combined
beauty and grandeur of this fine old castle, with its lofty
walls of stone, its curved outlines, its picturesque white
buildings at the corners, its massive tower, its broad moat,
and its huge blocks of granite of unexampled size and weight.
The whole or most of the walls are notable for these very
large blocks of granite, which vie with the largest of those
built into the great pyramid of Cheops, near Cairo, in Egypt ;
but as the main entrance to the castle proper is approached,
one sees block after block of the most astonishing propor-
tions, until at and opposite to the entrance itself are single
stones of such immense size that one is almost driven to
doubt whether his senses are not deceiving him. It is so
difficult to understand how such huge masses can have been
quarried, transported, raised to such a height, and there
worked into walls. I could not conveniently measure the
largest stones, but I feel sure that some of them must be

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

145

over twenty feet in height, nearly twice that in length, and
several feet thick, and must weigh three hundred to four
hundred tons. In reply to questions it was stated by some of
the officers quartered at the castle that these stones were
probably brought from quarries by the Inland Sea, situated
near Mihara, more than one hundred miles from Osaka, but
that some thought it probable that they were obtained from
the hill on which the castle stands. It was positively asserted
that the castle, with its stupendous walls, was built within
fifteen months, a statement which appears to me incredible,
however great a command of labour the builder may have
possessed.

Our visit to this historic castle was a very pleasant one,
in spite of the weather, which was damp, with occasional
showers. We were received by the general and other officers
of the garrison, and taken to an elevated tower-room, from
which a good view of the castle and city around could he
obtained. The history of the castle was briefly stated, and
plans of Osaka in very early times and at subsequent periods
after the building of the castle were inspected. The general
was so obliging as to give me a tracing of the castle and
present buildings, with some statistical information of much
interest. Another of the officers was good enough to pre-
sent us with some very old gold-hound arrows, which had
formed part of a ceiling formed of arrows in the old castle of
Kanazawa, in the province of Kaga, together with a tile
bearing the crest of the Daimio brought from the same
castle, and an ancient tile from another castle the roof of
which was once covered with gold, the tile in question still
bearing traces of gold upon its surface.

After taking light refreshments we went to the old castle
keep, which, although the upper stories are gone, still stands
high above everything else, overlooking the whole city and
the country round to the mountain limits. We then returned
to the castle gate, there taking leave of the general, and
proceeding to visit the infantry barracks, the artillery
barracks and stables, and other military places of interest.
What most struck me in these barracks, and in other military

VOL. II.

146

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

barracks in Japan, was the multiplicity of books and appli-
ances for reading and study. Every common soldier appears
to furnish himself, or to be furnished, with quite a small
library all to himself — a circumstance that may, perhaps,
be traced to the pre-revolution period of Japan, when the
samurai class were at once the soldiers and the scholars of
the country. Perhaps with the pay of British troops steadily
increasing as it is, and with so many facilities for study and
recreation as they are now furnished with, the time may not
be far distant when our own soldiers will occupy, as they well
might, a comparatively high position in the social scale, and
when the army will attract to it the surplus members of the
civil community of all grades that are respectable and well
instructed.

The evening of this day was devoted to our first dinner,
taken after the fashion of the country. In Tokio we had
taken lunch in native style occasionally in a tea-house, and
had made our first acquaintance (at a meal) with the floor as
a table, chopsticks as dining implements, and dancing girls
and geishas as our table attendants. But we had not before
dined in this fashion, and now at the invitation of Mr.
Godai Tomo-Atsu (colloquially Mr. Godai), president of the
Osaka chamber of commerce, we were to test the system.
I am free to confess that neither on this nor on any future
occasion did I flatter myself that so far as I was concerned
the experiment was a success. The rigidity of forty years
and an octave, with the restraints of European dress, are
unfavourable to the commencement of floor gymnastics, and
as my chopstick hand happened to be crushed a few years
ago, to the destruction of some of the muscles, I found the
chopsticks almost as difficult to play as the piano. But the
only defects on the occasion were with myself. After a
brief sojourn in the “ poetry room ” of my host, and another
in the ceremonial tea-room, where Madame Godai presided
as some Japanese ladies can — which is very perfectly, let me
assure the reader, as Madame Godai will not read this — and
after indulging our eyes with wonders of lacquer work,
bronze, and painting, we dined, and learnt how Japanese do

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

147

dine, when they have a mind. All I will say further on the
matter here is that on every possible occasion thereafter I
was much more than content to dine Japanese fashion, in
spite of all temptations ” of the best European cooks to he
found in the country.

On Wednesday the 17th of February we started on a
visit to the ancient and sacred city of Nara, which was the
capital of old Japan in the time of the famous empresses
of the seventh and eighth centuries. But the story of that
visit I must tell, however hastily and imperfectly, in a
separate chapter, and here pass on to our rearrival in
Osaka. In the Nara chapter I shall bring the narrative
down to the entertainment of which I now proceed to speak,
and which took place immediately on our return from Nara.
This banquet was a highly characteristic one in many ways.
It was, I understood, the first ever given by the merchants of
the city of Osaka to any foreign visitor ; it was attended
by one of the ministers of state. Admiral Kawamura ; it was
given on a scale of great splendour, in a purely Japanese
style in every respect ; national music, singing, and dancing
of the very highest class were performed during the evening ;
and the hosts were the president, vice-presidents, and
members of council of the chamber of commerce and the
stock exchange of Osaka,* who in conveying their invita-

* The following list of our prin-
cipal entertainers was handed to
me — I give it without alteration :
Godai Tomo-Atsu, President of
Commercial Chamber, and originator
of Stock Exchange, Osaka. Nakano
Goichi, Vice-President of Commercial
Chamber, Osaka. Hirose Sekei, do.
Kato Yo-ichi, Manager of Chamber
of Commerce, Osaka. Shibakawa
Matakei, do., and Inspector of Bai-
shio-kwaishio (where is transacted
the business for rice). The above
gentlemen are voted and intrusted
to their office by the people of
Osaka. The Commercial Chamber
is constructed by the many thousand

very different parties of the merchants
of Osaka, and the representatives are
voted more or less according to the
number of the parties. There are now
two hundred and thirty represen-
tatives in the Commercial Chamber,
and they desired the above gentlemen
to receive you as their substitute.
Nakayama Nobu-aki, President of
Stock Exchange, Osaka. Konoike
Zenyemon, originator of Stock Ex-
change, Osaka. Mitsai Motonoshe,
do. Sumitomo Kichiza-yemon, do.
Kasano Kumakichi, do., and owner of
Kow-giyo-kwaishio (where is trans-
acted the business for exportation).
Hirase Kamenoske, originator of

L 2

148

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

tions adverted to tlieir representative character, acted
in the name of their fellow-citizens, and received us with
great cordiality. The scene on entering the dining-chamber
was singular and beautiful ; excepting a few handsome
screens and works of art near the walls, the room had no
other furniture than silk cushions to sit upon, hibaehis
(small portable square howls containing charcoal fire) for
giving warmth, and smaller fire-howls for lighting the
small Japanese pipes, cigarettes, or cigars. But although
still not far from the middle of February, the evening air
was mild, and one side of the room was thrown entirely open
to an unusually large garden, with a fine sheet of artificial
Avater winding about it. The verandah and the garden and
water beyond were illuminated with hundreds of Japanese
lanterns, richly coloured, many of which w^ere kept moving
throughout the evening. We sat down about twenty in
number, and the banquet commenced by a few girls, quietly
but prettily attired, coming into the room, advancing and
falling upon their knees in front of us, placing handsome
lacquer trays with cups of tea and slices of sweet cake
before us, and bowing the head to the ground before
rising and retiring. This kind of proceeding, I may say
shortly, went on for several hours, the lacquered trays
bearing in succession soups, meats, fish, game, and all sorts
of vegetables daintily prepared, and served in a form that
enabled me to deal with them by means of chopsticks only —
not, I am bound to say, without the liberal use of the teeth in
aid thereof. There were doubtless many articles served to
which we in England are strangers, but sea-weed and bamboo-
shoots — both very palatable indeed — are all of them that I can
now call to mind. The universal strong drink of the country,
known as sake* drunk both cold and hot, was served, together
with European wines, and English ale and stout as desired.
At an early stage of the dinner poured in a stream of

Stock Exchange, Ocaka. Yamaguchi, been made and drunk in Japan for
Kichirobey, do. Eno-kuchi Shin- sixteen centuries. It is not usually
zabro, do. Kumagai Tatstaro, do. what the English would consider very
* This sahe, brewed from rice, has strong.

CHAP. VII.]

TEE CITY OF OSAKA.

149

dancing girls arrayed in Japanese crapes and silks of the
brightest and most diversified colouring and pattern, with
hair dressed into wonders of an art that reaches its climax
perhaps in Osaka, and with faces and necks powdered,
eyebrows deepened, eyelids tinted, and lips polished with
vermilion enamel. There were at least five-and-twenty
of these pretty creations of imperial Osaka who were
unquestionably very choice works of art, and I am afraid
they cannot be considered at present as very much more.
It appeared on this and other occasions to be their function,
not merely to dance when called upon, but to sit about
among the diners, assist them to anything they might
require, and make themselves generally useful ; and as they
did this very nicely and successfully, I have perhaps shown
in this sentence that I did them some injustice in my last,
for which I apologise. In addition to these brilliant little
beings, there were numerous singing and music girls, or
geishas, and behind the screen some singing men besides.
It is difficult — it is indeed impossible for a stranger to fully
appreciate such musical performances as theirs, because
much of their merit must be due to elaborate cultivation of
taste. Still it was impossible to listen to such instrumental
and vocal music as was heard on this occasion without
observing qualities which must be the result of combined
natural endowment and high training. Beyond this, how-
ever, it is impossible for me to go, and I can only assert the
very eminent merits of the artists upon the authority of
my informants. The instruments used were the hoto, the
hogu, and the samise7i.

I cannot even give the names of the several dances, nor
can I presume to describe them ; suffice it to say here (as I
have mentioned the Japanese dances elsewhere) that they
began with two very young girls performing a dance in
masks; that the second was a dance in which the parasol
played a considerable part ; that the third was performed by
one of the very young girls, who successively made use of a
branch of blossoms and of two fans, which were handled
with a dexterity that was marvellous in so young a child.

150

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

The remainder were more general, most of the dancers
joining in them, usually with the accompaniment of hand-
clapping. Notwithstanding the extreme monotony of the
music, some of these dances were maintained for a long time,
and with wonderful spirit, the younger hosts and guests
joining more or less in them. In the course of the evening,
something very analogous to the drinking of healths set in
for a short time, hut happily was not prolonged as it is at
home. It will he interesting to quote the following trans-
lation of a brief abstract of the speech of the President,
Mr. Godai, the president of the chamber of commerce, who
was likewise the originator of the Osaka stock exchange.

He said : “ When our harbours were hardly opened,
foreign civilisation was unknown to us ; but after friendly
relations, we were gradually brought to the light, and are
now making progress so much that we have succeeded in
the formation of this Chamber, and the meeting of the
people. Just on the completion, I am happy to say, you
gratify us, Mr. Keed, with your visit, leading us to a new
idea by gathering ourselves to this meeting to welcome and
entertain you, which was never done before to any of our past
foreign guests. In showing you our appreciation of your
visit, we also give you a sight of our progress, which I am
glad and proud of. One thing remains in my mind, and a
word I must say : when his Eoyal Highness your Prince
[the Duke of Edinburgh] was on his visit to this empire,
our people were not at all well informed, and were ignorant
of the way how his Eoyal Highness should be welcomed
and entertained, and were consequently unable to afford the
same attentions as now. Finding ourselves now more quali-
fied, and having once started, I am in hope that we will
be able to give to all our future foreign guests of rank or
distinction an equal reception with that we give to you.”

I ought not to forget to mention one of the attentions
shown at this dinner, as it was both interesting in itself
and indicative of the amount of consideration which these
merchants of Osaka were pleased to show to us. Towards
the end of the dinner there was brought in and placed in

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF OSAKA.

151

front of me a stand about 2^ feet broad and feet long,
on which was modelled a beautifully coloured representation
of a golden pheasant, a pine-tree, some very fine large
flowers, with numerous small bouquets of Osaka artificial
flowers. This is, I was informed by one of my inter-
preters, a compliment only paid at weddings, and on
occasions of very pronounced welcome and consideration
to guests. The Osaka flowers were distributed among the
company, most of them finding their way sooner or later
to the vain little heads of the pretty geishas and dancing-
girls. A curious feature of the arrangement was, however,
the material of the golden pheasant and the larger flowers,
which were all cut out of fresh turnips, or of some similar
vegetable, and were so beautifully formed and coloured as
to present a more natural appearance than many permanent
works of art. The party was broken up about eleven o’clock
by our departure, the run home in jinrihis being made at
an astonishing speed, which was very agreeable to those
of us who had already ridden in them during the day
some thirty miles or more.

It is needless to prolong this account of our visit to Osaka
much more, although many a page might readily be filled
with the story of it. There are, however, a few facts and
incidents which must not be omitted. Among these must
be named another banquet, given to us this time by
Governor Watanabe. This was served in European style,
and was wonderfully well done ; but the principal charms
of the occasion, in addition to the perpetual charm of joyous
hospitality, were its Japanese features — the mottoes on the
wall, each a compliment and a poem ; the illuminated
garden ; the writings in silk from the hands of the rebel
Saigo and the martyr Okubo ; the many swords of the host,
each with its own story told, or that could be told; and
above all, the dramatic performances which followed the
banquet. For on this occasion the governor had arranged
for the performance of a series of dramatic pieces, mostly
comedies, and for the first time we became acquainted
with a branch of Japanese art which, however ancient in

152

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

itself, had not even in rumour reached us. Whether the
drama did or did not originate in pantomimic performances,
as some suppose, I know not, hut certainly in the Japanese
drama such performances still retain a most important
and prominent part. I must not, however, enter upon
the subject here. Whether, when I come to see more of
these dramatic exhibitions, I shall he able to give any
intelligible account of them I cannot say ; but on the
present occasion I must pass them over all but in silence,
full of extraordinary characteristics as they were. The wife
of our host, and an interesting child or two of theirs, were
present, besides the invited guests, so that one really
assisted at a family party as well as at a dramatic display.

Another interesting feature of our stay at Osaka was our
purchasing expedition. In this we were most fortunate,
having for our guide and friend Mr. Ohno Norichika, of the
imperial mint, who, in the absence of the senior officer,
acted as our host, and performed the duty handsomely.
We revelled for hours in curiosities of all descriptions (with
buyers’ appetites but imperfectly indulged), but the greatest
delight of all was among the pictures — hahemono, gaku-
mono, screens, pictures for screens, and volumes upon
volumes of artists’ work of every description. What a gift
it is, that of an artist ! What a power it is which he
possesses ! by a few swift touches of ink or colour to
create — or is it not truer to say to revive ? — in us the
image of a bird, a flower, a landscape, a sea, a storm !

’Tis the privilege of Art
Thus to play its cheerful part,

Man in earth to acclimate.

And bend the exile to his fate;

And, moulded of one element
With the days and firmament.

Teach him on these as stairs to climb,

And live on even terms with Time;

Whilst upper life the slender rill
Of human sense doth overfill.” — Emerson.

And after purchasing came the still more pleasant task —
in some respects, but not in all — of receiving presents. The

CHAP. VII.]

THE CITY OF 08AKA.

153

governor’s liberality I have already spoken of. Mr. Ohno
gave us sets of the old gold and silver coins of rectangular
form, which make pretty necklaces for daughters. Mr. Ka-
sano Kumakichi, one of the merchant princes, from whom
we received many kindnesses, brought a beautiful specimen
of the large oval coins of gold, ajso of the olden time. Mr.
Godai sent one of my daughters a splendid glove-box of the
finest ancient lacquer-work ; and so forth.

But I must not conclude this account of Osaka without
a word of appreciation of the fine buildings and beautiful
machinery of the imperial mint. Most of the machinery
was imported, of course, from Europe, and erected and
originally worked under European care ; but the number
of Europeans now remaining is limited, I believe, to one
or two, and the smaller machines now required are manu-
factured in the country. The skill with which the various
departments are carried on by natives is very remarkable,
some of the duties in which special dexterity and quickness
of eye are necessary being performed in a manner which
could hardly, if at all, be matched by any other people.
The trial of the pyx is carried out as with us, and the
results checked in some foreign countries. The modern
coins are very handsomely designed. The national tradi-
tions oppose the stamping of the image of the divinely
descended Mikado upon them, and some time will probably
yet elapse before this is brought about. His majesty’s
imperial and family crests or badges, the hihu and hiri,
with wreaths and tassels and bannerets bearing the sun
and the moon, adorn one side of the gold coins, which are five
in number ; the other side being decorated with a splendid
dragon and legend round. The silver coins bear a similar
dragon and legend on one side, and the hihu crest with
wreaths and tassels, and the coin’s denomination on the
other. All but the smallest coins in gold and silver have
milled edges. The new silver “ trade dollar ” does not
greatly differ in appearance, nor in size and weight, from
the “ one yen ” piece, the ^jen being the Japanese dollar.
It has lately been notified that the trade dollar, which was

154

JAPAN.

[chap. VII.

originally coined for the convenience of commerce at the
open ports, and was current only at those ports, will hence-
forth he made universally current, and may therefore he
used in making and receiving payments of taxes and in all
other public and private transactions, both internal as well
as external. The bronze coins do not differ materially in
design from those of silver, hut none of their edges are
milled. The following are the coins struck at the mint,
viz. : —

Gold.

Silver.

Copper,

20 Yen

1 Yen

2 Sen

10 Yen

Trade

1 Sen

5 Yen

50 Sen

2 Sen

2 Yen

20 Sen

1 Kin

1 Yen

10 Sen
’ 5 Sen

Up to the middle of last year (1878) there had been
coined at the Osaka mint nearly 3,000,000 ounces of gold,
23,000,000 ounces of silver, and 91,000,000 of copper coins,
of a total value of about 83,000,000 dollars, or nearly
£17,000,000 sterling. The weight and number of gold.

silver, and bronze

coins struck during last

year (ending

June 30, 1878) were as follows : —

Denomination.

Weight.
Troy oz.

Number.

Gold 20 Yen .

32-15 .

„ 10 Yen .

19-83 .

„ 5 Yen .

19,080-55 .

71,216

„ 2 Yen .

19-20 .

179

„ 1 Yen .

9-12 .

170

Silver Trade Dollar .

382,103-14 .

436,673

„ 50 Sen .

79,927-67 .

184,440

„ 20 Sen

. 1,235,448-20 .

. 7,127,562

„ 10 Sen ,

. 1,177,548-05 .

. 13,586,479

„ 5 Sen .

622,548-78 .

. 14,365,849

Copper 2 Sen

. 13,322,015-60 .

. 29,080,239

„ 1 Sen .

, 5,597,486-60 .

. 24,422,948

„ i Sen .

. 3,060,440-40 .

. 26,709,834

„ Kin

670-80

23,000

( J55 )

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

Interest felt in the city — View of the people — Men of average stature,
women small — Picturesque children — Visit to Sakai — Eoad to Nara —
Shadoofs — Burial-places of the Mikados — Tomb of the war-god Ojin —
Eaised river-beds — Village graveyards — Scenery — Eiver navigation —
The ancient temples of Hori-uji — Eelic of Buddha — Carvings of Prince
Shotoku — First view of Nara — Careful cultivation of the land — Our
tern pie- abode — The great temple of Dai-hutsu — ^The colossal god of bronze
and gold — The supporters of the god — Historic relics — Footprint of
Buddha — Temples of Kwannon — A fine landscape — A tea-house — More
Buddhist and Shinto temples — Courtesy and hospitality of the priests
— Temple avenues — Dance of the virgin priestesses — An ancient pine-
tree — Curiosity shops — Eeturn start — Site and limits of the ancient
city — Group of Shinto temples near Sakai — A Japanese interior — More
hospitality — Osaka again.

It was in consequence of a strong desire of my own to visit
Nara that our trip to that ancient city was undertaken.
Knowing that it had been the capital city of Japan more
than one thousand years ago, that it still contained the
celebrated monster image of the great Buddha, that its
temples, shrines, and ecclesiastical treasures were of high
antiquity, and that it could he reached in a few hours from
Osaka, I suggested that it would he a mistake to pass it hy
unobserved. The suggestion was immediately taken up hy
my friends, who at once set about the necessary arrange-
ments. I should have been quite satisfied to take the
chance of such accommodation as might be found there, but
the auspices under which I was seeing the country put this
out of the question. My first idea was to start very early
in the morning, and return the same day, employing relays
of jinrihi men ; but this was considered to be, if not im-

156

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

practicable, at least very undesirable, especially as the days
were still short and the weather uncertain. It was there-
fore resolved to start about ten o’clock on Wednesday, 21st
of February, proceeding by the roundabout route through
Sakai on account of that being much less hilly than the
direct route, and therefore preferable for the draught-men,
though of greater length. Sakai was only about seven and
a half English miles from our residence in Osaka, but it
was arranged for us to visit a carpet-manufactory and to
take tiffin at the house of a gentleman there, with the
mayor of Sakai, performing the rest of the journey before
our evening dinner.

It was a lovely morning when we started, with a warm
spring sun shining, and even the men who had to drag us
the twenty-seven miles to Nara — for they themselves ob-
jected to the employment of relays — were merry and glad
as we rattled out of the imperial mint compound, a party of
about i\NQ\YQjinrihi-slias, some of the younger and smaller men
riding double, with three men to each jinrihi^ except where
the loads were light and where two sufficed. The greater
part of the city of Osaka had to be traversed, and a very
large city it proved to be. In crossing the space between
its southern boundary and Sakai, including many suburban
places, we seemed to be passing through an almost - con-
tinuous town, until we reached the boundary bridge of
Sakai, where the secretary of the governor of the district,
and the head of the district police, met us, and undertook
the conduct of the party for the rest of the journey. The
whole town of Sakai appeared to have heard of the visit, and
to have turned out along the line of route to inspect and, let
us hope, to admire us — a circumstance which gave us the
great advantage of returning the compliment by observing
and admiring them. It was an excellent opportunity, as it
proved — this trip to Nara, during which I saw no European
face whatever, except my son’s — to see the people of the
country as they daily live and move among themselves. We
noticed in Sakai, as we had already done in Osaka, that the
notion of the Japanese being almost universally a small race

CHAP. VIII.] TEE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

157

of men and women is altogether an erroneous one, the
majority being of fair average height, and many of them
men of a size and height which were much above the average
European standard. I think the women were, however, on
the whole, smaller in proportion to the size of the men than
would he usual among ourselves. The most picturesque and
amusing beings, however, in Japan, are not the men nor the
women, hut the children, owing to the bright colouring and
the infinite variety of pattern of the stuff of which their
dresses are made, and the quaint old-fashioned look which
the dress gives Them as they toddle about (especially, I
presume, in the winter season, when they wear more clothes),
with their little shaved heads, chubby faces, and jet-black
eyes. These youngsters, during their earliest years, are
always, apparently, mounted upon somebody else, either in
front or behind, usually slung when very young with hands
and face snugly nestled in the open bosoms of their mothers,
sometimes similarly but less warmly suspended upon their
fathers. A little later on in life they take to the hacks of
their fathers and mothers, and more often still to those of
their little brothers and sisters, this form of family affection
being carried to such an extent that the two brats — the
rider and the ridden — are so near of an age that one some-
times fancies they must he taking it in turns, and carrying
one another. I may say in passing that I have hut one
very strong objection to these little life- visitors to the sun-
rise-land, and that is that they do not, as a rule, get their
little noses attended to nearly often enough, though even
in that matter they are, perhaps, “ more sinned against than
sinning.” In visiting the carpet-factory, where a consider-
able manufacture of carpets and rugs for export is springing
up, and taking an excellent mixed tiffin of Japanese and
European dishes as the guest of the mayor, Mr. Saisho — a
pleasant, meditative gentleman, in whom the spirit of
antiquity seemed to live still, and who kindly exhibited to
us some exceeding old bronzes and other objects of interest
— we took our final departure for Nara at a quarter past one,
facing eastward for the hills. Our road lay at first up a

158

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

short hill and over an open plain, which presented a peculiar
appearance, from the number of i^hacloofs (levers for raising
water from pits and distributing it over the land), which
stood up like light masts by hundreds ; the ground here
being above the river levels, and therefore requiring special
means for its irrigation. As the level of the land crossed
became lower, these shadoofs became fewer in number, and
before long altogether disappeared. The ranges of hills in
front • of us were extremely picturesque ; the landscape
between them and us was liberally supplied with trees ;
occasionally there stood up out of the plain large artificial
mounds, surmounted with clumps of pine-trees, and sur-
rounded with moats ; rivers and sheets of water brightened
the land ; torii and temple roofs attracted the eye to many
a village and shrine ; the people, catching sight of our
advancing procession of jinrihi-shas (and perhaps apprised
by the local police, who evidently expected us, of the
passage of some Europeans- — to them a very unusual sight),
swarmed in the village streets, or hurried across the fields
from all quarters, to catch sight of us as we passed; and
over all the pretty moving scene, a sun, warm as that of
our English summer, poured down its refulgence, animating
and cheering the hearts of all. The raised mounds which
I have mentioned, and of which we saw many on the road
to Nara, and in its neighbourhood, are the burial-places
of deceased Mikados, and are, as a matter of course, I
presume, made the sites of Shinto shrines. One of them,
concerning which I happened to inquire particularly, was
the tomb of Inkiyo, the twentieth Mikado of the present
dynasty, who reigned in the beginning of the fifth century
(a.d.), and another, that of the twenty-second of the line,
who reigned in the same century. In a wood seen on our
right hand was the burial-place of the war-god, Ojin-Tenno,
one of the most famous of the still earlier Mikados, the six-
teenth of the dynasty. In accordance with Japanese practice,
this Mikado, who reigned in the third century, a.d. like the
others, became worshipped as a god after his death, but the
deification appears to have been founded in his case upon

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

159

very- substantial deeds and services. He was, as before stated,
the son of the warrior-queen Jingu Kogo, who conquered
Korea with such important results to her own country.
“ Through this peninsula, and not directly from China,”
says Mr. Griffis,* “ flowed the influences whose confluence
with the elements of Japanese life produced the civilisa-
tion which for twelve centuries has run its course in the
island empire. ... To a woman is awarded the glory of
the conquest of Korea, whence came letters, religion, and
civilisation to Japan. In all Japanese traditions or history
there is no greater female character than the empress Jingu
(god-like exploit). Her name was Okinaga Tarashihime ;
but she is better known by her posthumous title of Jingu
Kogo, or Jingu, the wife or spouse of the Mikado. She was
equally renowned for her beauty, piety, intelligence, energy,
and martial valour. She was not only very obedient to the
gods, but they delighted to honour her with their inspira-
tion. She feared neither the waves of the sea, the arrows of
the battle-field, nor the difficulties that wait on all great
enterprises. Great as she was in her own person, she is
greater in the Japanese eyes as the mother of the god of
war [Ojin Tenno].” A good deal of the miraculous is mixed
up in their recorded history of Jingu and her great son Ojin ;
they are taken by Japanese scholars, nevertheless, to be
undoubtedly historical characters, and are worshipped in
many temples in Japan, the empress-mother as “ Kashii dai
mio jin,” and the son as the god of war himself. “ Down
through the centuries,” continues the author just quoted,
“ he has been worshipped by all classes of the people,
especially by soldiers, who offer their prayers, pay their
vows, and raise their votive offerings to him. Many of the
troops, before taking steamer for Formosa, in 1874, implored
his protection. In his honour some of the most magnificent
temples in Japan have been erected, and almost every town
and village, as well as many a rural grove and hill, has its
shrine erected to the Japanese Mars. He is usually repre-

* In ‘ The Mikado’s Empire.’

160

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

sented in his images as of a frightful, scowling countenance,
holding, with arms akimbo, a broad two-edged sword. One
of the favourite subjects of Japanese artists of all periods is
the group of figures consisting of the snowy-bearded Take-
nouchi, in civil dress, holding the infant of Jingu Kogo in
his arms, the mother standing by in martial robes. . . . The
Buddhists have canonised him, Ojin, as Hachiman Dai
Bosatsu,* or the Incarnation of Buddha of the Eight Banners.
Hence, among the devotees of the India faith, this god of
war and patron of warriors is called Hachiman. . . . Hachi-
man (Iiachi, eight ; man, banners) is the Chinese form of
Yawata (ya, eight ; wata, banners).”

On this trip to Nara, as on some former occasions, we
crossed several rivers the beds of which have in the course
of centuries been raised considerably above the level of the
adjacent country, the banks being raised, of course, still
higher. In some cases the high road now passes under the
river bed by a level tunnel.

At 2.30 p.M. we passed from the open plain, through
orchards of peach-trees and orange-trees, into the hilly
district, where the country became more picturesque and
beautiful than before. By the roadside, and entirely open
to road and field, were little village burial-places, with
tomb-stones, usually of low and small square columns of
granite, but sometimes of unshaped or roughly-shaped slabs
of stone with figures sculptured on one side. On the hill-
sides, often embedded in the woods, were small temples and
shrines, which certainly lent themselves freely to the pic-
turesque and the artistic, whatever may be thought of them
as instruments of religion.

At 2.45 we stopped at the village of Kokubu, to rest the
jinrihi men, and to refresh ourselves with cups of Japanese
tea, speedily resuming our journey, our course leading us
through as pretty a hill-country as can be desired, with a
swift river rushing past the road. On this river were
extremely shallow boats (carrying land-produce and other

See footnote, vol. i. p. 264.

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

161

goods), propelled sometimes by sails aided by pushing-poles,
sometimes by the latter alone, and almost as frequently by
the still more primitive method of the boatmen walking up
the stream and dragging their boat with them. Much of
this river traffic was in charcoal, and in wood cut in the
neighbouring forests, prepared for conversion into charcoal.
Our road afterwards stretched across a beautiful valley,
from which one could at intervals catch distant glimpses of
what proved afterwards to be Nara, while away on the right,
on a lofty mountain summit, a white village gleamed like a
group of silver shrines. The road lay through many more
villages, the inhabitants of which were inferior to none in
the interest they took in our long and rapid and noisy
procession, led by our Sakai chief of police, Nara being
situated in the Sakai district.

At the village of Tatsuta we turned off to visit the famous
and ancient Buddhist temples of Horiuji, where we were
most courteously received by the two principal priests and
other officials, who hospitably entertained us with tea and
cakes. This group of temples, with a pagoda, were all twelve
hundred years old, and bore the marks of their age both
externally and internally.* They possessed some wonderful
treasures — after the fashion of many of our Christian temples
in Europe — the most precious of all being a piece — an
extremely small piece, but still a piece — of the very bone of
Buddha himself ! I am not quite sure, but I have some
reason to think that this most precious relic, which our
unworthy eyes were permitted to behold, is no other than
that which was held in the clenched hand of Prince Shoto-
ku-taishi when he was born, and was revealed when at the
age of two years he turned to the east, invoked Buddha,
and displayed this very wonderful proof of heavenly favour.
The valuable and wonder-working relic was inclosed in a
small crystal globe, within which you could both see and
hear it as the globe was shaken, the sacred crystal sphere
being supported on a stand of crystal, and surmounted with

* For mention of tlie founding of these temples, see vol. i. p. 79.
VOL. II.

162

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

a crystal crown-piece. Every day at twelve o’clock the
people were permitted to see and bow before this unquestion-
able evidence of the greatest verity of Buddhism, the mission
of Buddha himself to the earth ! As shown to us, this
treasure was set out upon a splendid silk cloth, thickly
embroidered with gold, and adorned with cords and tassels,
which may have had a significance too profound for me.
Another very valuable treasure, which the priests generously
allowed us to examine closely, in the inmost centre of the
shrine itself, and with a candle to illuminate it, was an
image in wood of the son of the famous Shotoku-taishi,
carved by the hand of that great personage himself. There
were also numerous w^ooden idols of ancient date, some of
them reminding one of the very old Egyptian gods, carved
in wood and with painted eyes, etc., with which Mariette
Bey has enriched the museum at Boulak, near Cairo. Chief
of all was the celebrated image of Buddha, on the back of
which is the ancient and unreadable Chinese inscription
mentioned in the previous chapter on the God-period.* There
were those likewise which Shotoku-taishi is said to have carved
and borne upon his head after the army when a youth.

In a separate temple, which appeared to have been
specially patronised by the grateful classes, and which was
probably dedicated (although I was not so informed) to the
great god Ojin, whom I just now referred to, were countless
swords, bows, mirrors, lanterns, gimlets, or something of that
sort, and other articles which faithful Buddhists had thought
it well to present and leave behind in this place. It was
impossible at the time, and is as impossible now, to do
justice to the treasures of these temples, from which we
had to hurry away Nara- wards. Our way lay through a
beautiful valley, with lofty hills falling behind us, and
loftier ranges in front of us, and villages scattered freely
throughout its extent. I take from my note-book the
following remark, jotted down at this point : “ Along the
near side and at the foot of yonder hills are so many towns

* See footnote, vol. i. p. 21.

CHAP. VIII,]

THE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

163

or villages that they seem to be almost continuous for
many miles. It must he in this lovely valley — lovely as we
advance, lovely as we look hack — that Nara lies, and I do
not doubt that one or other of the clusters of buildings that
we see is it.” This proved afterwards to be so, Nara being
the largest town then visible on the left or north of the
landscape, hut still several miles distant. Unlike those of
most Japanese villages that I had previously seen, the houses
in this part of the country, and chiefly in and near Nara
itself, are made white, and are consequently much more
visible at long distances, and in certain lights, than they
would otherwise he. •

All along the route thus far pursued the country had
been remarkable for the care and closeness of the cultivation,
and we subsequently found that this continued all the way
to the old city which we were seeking, and doubtless is a
characteristic of Japanese agriculture, at least near the
lines of the great high roads. It may be confidently said
that the whole of the low ground, and most of the hillside,
where not wooded, was cultivated as thoroughly as an
English kitchen garden, throughout the journey from Osaka,
by Sakai, to Nara.

The sun disappeared behind the hills before half past five,
and it was already nearly dark when we passed through the
large and important town of Koriyama ; but again the good
people of 'the place lined the streets for our inspection.
The air began to get decidedly cold, and when we were still
tv/o or three miles from our destination rain began to fall,
and continued to the end of our journey. To cheer their
flagging energies the jinrihi-sha men multiplied their re-
sponsive noises among themselves, and quickened the pace
withal. At length we passed between two large illuminated
stone lanterns, which proved to be the beginning of the
present town of Nara, the whole length of which had,
however, to be travelled, as we were bound to Tonain, the
temple- residence of the chief priest of Nara, Tsuzaka Senkai,
which is situated within the gate of the great temple of
Dai-hutsu. Chilled and hungry, we gladly stepped at last

M 2

164

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

from our jmrih'fi, and entered a beautiful residence of pure
Japanese type, in one of tbe principal rooms of which we
saw framed and hung an inscription written by the hand of
the present Mikado, signifying “ residence of the pure,” or
something of that kind. It appears that this house had
been occupied by his majesty during his visit to Nara some
little time ago. All those parts of the house which we saw
were very new, and elegantly furnished, and probably owed
much of their superiority in these respects to the fact of his
majesty having sojourned in it. However that may be, it
was an extremely pleasant retreat for our present party,
and made the more so by the speedy serving of an excellent
dinner. It was not at a very late hour that we made a
further retreat to our beds (on the floor, of course), there, in
my own case at least, to sleep the sleep of the grateful.

A cup of tea at seven o’clock, with a breeze of fresh
morning air let in from the hills, were the pleasant be-
ginnings of the next day at Nara, which proved so delight-
ful that we shall never quite forget it, I hope. The rain
had gone, and the sun was shining brightly and warmly
as I stepped out upon the verandah and looked abroad.
A pretty Japanese garden, with winding water, artistically
trained trees and shrubs — the more cherished ones just
opening their fragrant blossoms here and there — and gravel
paths raked into ornamental patterns, with a background
of green and of wooded mountain slopes rising high above all,
composed the pleasant picture we looked upon, and from
which, refreshed with sleep, one gladly drew further refresh-
ment still. We had already decided to devote the whole
day to Nara, returning the following day, but nevertheless
there was no time to lose ; therefore, breakfast over, we
started on our tour of the temples, guided by experienced
officers, and attended by a pleasant set of Japanese com-
panions and interpreters. Besides a few European coats
upon some of our conductors, there was nothing to break
in upon the aspect which this part of the old city had worn
Jbr more than a thousand years.

On leaving the grounds of our temporary residence, we

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NAB A.

165

stepped at once into the shadow of that huge structure the
great gate of the temple of Dai-hutsu — an immense and
imposing pile, containing two of the colossal carved gate-
keepers or kings previously described, of very forbidding
aspect and attitude, but who were less hideous than others
of the kind. This great gateway was on our left ; on our
right, at a distance of three to four hundred yards, was
another gateway to the great temple, the broad road between
the two gateways having wide grassy spaces on either side,
from which spring many ancient and lofty old trees. The
space between the two gates is therefore a broad and beauti-
ful promenade for the greater part of the year. Our first
visit was to the famous temple of the Great Buddha. As
usual in approaches to Japanese temples, there are several
shops near to the temple itself. In the centre of the large
open space between the lesser gateway and the temple is an
immense and very old bronze lantern, large enough for a
man to stand in. This lantern was presented to the temple
by the renowned hero and statesman Yoritomo, who died in
the year 1199, and is seven hundred years old. It is in
daily use still. This temple was originally founded and the
immense image made by the Mikado Shomu, the forty-sixth
of the present line of emperors, and the third of Nara, who
died 748 a.d. The temple was destroyed seven hundred years
ago, in the terrible civil wars of the twelfth century, and
again seriously injured, so that the head of the god had to be
recast, in the seventeenth century. The great gateway, how-
ever, with most of the other buildings of this great temple,
have escaped such injuries, and although constructed of wood
have stood as they now stand for more than eleven centuries.

The interest of this place centres, of course, in the great
god of bronze and gold, who (subject to the mischances just
mentioned) has been the wonder of Japan for so many ages
past. It has been positively stated by some that a consider-
able amount of gold entered into his composition, but those
on the spot seem to be uncertain as to whether the gold
employed in making him was mixed with the bronze of
which he is cast, or applied superficially to him. That much

166

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

lias been applied in the latter way there can be no doubt, and
in places in which the gold is visible, and which I closely
examined, it seemed to me that it conformed to an external
line of ornament in each case, which would indicate that it
was superficial only. The dimensions of this god are truly
colossal. His height from the base of the sacred lotus-flower
on which he sits to the top of his head is 63J feet, and
above this rises a halo 14 feet wide, above which again rises
for several feet the flame-like glory which arches in the
whole figure. The face proper is 16 feet long, its width
9^ feet. The eyes are 3 feet 9 inches long, the eyebrows
feet, the ears 8^ feet. The chest is 20 feet in depth. Its
middle finger is 5 feet long. Around the head, shoulders,
and sides of the god, in front of the halo, are sixteen sitting
figures, said to be 8 feet long. The leaves of the immense
lotus on which he sits are each 10 feet long and 6 feet wude,
and there are fifty-six of them.* The casting must have
been wonderfully well executed, although the fineness of the
leaf-edges, and other parts which we were able to examine,
and the elaborate engraving which can be traced upon
the lotus-leaves in the uninjured parts, leave no doubt that
the founder’s art was elaborately supplemented by the file
and graver. The countenance of the god is less mild and calm

* “ This idol was first cast in the
year 743. It was twice destroyed
during the time of wars in its neigh-
bourhood, and the idol which at pre-
sent exists was erected about seven
hundred years ago. The casting of this
idol was tried seven successive times
before it was successively accomplished,
and about 3000 tons of charcoal were
used in the operation. The total
weight of metal is about 450 tons,
and it consists of the following in-
gredients : —

Gold . . 500 lbs. avoirdupois.

Tin . . 16,827 „ »

IMercury . 1,954 „ „

Copper . 986,080 „ „

1,005,361 lbs.

“ It is cast in pieces, and these pieces
are joined together by a kind of solder
called handaroo, and which answers
its purpose very satisfactorily. . . .
The various pieces composing the
hnage are not fitted together in a
very finished manner, but the cement
keeps the joints perfectly tight and
close. The whole construction is one
whieli shows great skill and original
genius in the mixture of metals, and
in the methods of casting them, and
it is further one which will, no doubt,
be a source of pride and gratification
to the Japanese people for many cen-
turies to come.”— E. H. Bruuton
Esq., C.E., on ‘ Constructive Art in
Japan,’ in ‘Transactions’ of Asiatic
Society of J apan.

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NARA.

167

of expression than is usual in images of Buddha. The right
hand is open and raised upwards, the left rests on the lap.

The surroundings of this enormous image are interesting,
some of them very beautiful. On his right hand is a very
large image of Kokuzo, and on his left one of the goddess
Kwannon, who here seems to occupy a more pronounced and
immediate association with Buddha than usual. In this
temple of Dai-butsu, as in many others, there are magnificent
bronze vases, some plain and some richly gilded, and many
bronze lanterns of equal merit and value. There are also
many treasures of antiquity, which we had an excellent
opportunity of inspecting as fully as time permitted, as they
were arranged in order around the temple in anticipation of
an exhibition shortly to be held. Among them were writings
of the ancient Mikados defined and preserved by the engrav-
ing of the surrounding parts ; some of the weapons used in
the invasion of Korea by the empress Jingu Kogo, including
a large and powerful bow, said to have been that of the
empress herself. There was also the imperial standard of
the Mikado Go-Daigo, of the fourteenth century, and the door
from the Mikado’s palace on which the famous patriot Nanko,
or Kusunoki Masashige, inscribed with the point of an arrow
some parting words expressive of his apprehension that he
would not return from the war to which he was going, of his
devotion to the Mikado, and of his hope that his name would
live long in the history of his country. The characters of
this inscription are well preserved and perfectly legible. I
obtained from the priests what is known to many as a “ rub ”
of this inscription. On a later day, going from Osaka to
Kioto, the governor of Osaka was good enough to point out to
me a pine-tree in the village of Sakurai as the spot on which
this warrior, Nanko, took leave of his son before he went

“Far down to that great battle in the west,”

near to Hiogo, where, his counsels being rejected, he was
grievously defeated. He gave to his son, a boy of thirteen,
the sword presented to him by the Mikado, desired him to
fight for the Mikado as he had done, and was about to do.

168

JAPAN.

[chap. Vlll

he believed for the last time, and urged him to avenge his
death when he was gone. After his defeat he put an end to
his life by committing hara-hiri, and a large number of his
followers imitated his example, as previously stated. It is
said that the son desired to do the same, but being prevented
by his mother became a soldier a few years afterwards, and,
like his father, fought and died for his sovereign.*

But I must hasten over these treasures, some of which
were very remarkable indeed. There was, for example (and
if I mix up the historic and the fabulous in my summary,
the Nara priests must be responsible for the incongruity), —
there was a sacred stone with a deep indentation of the very
foot of Buddha himself — a very large foot, and that of an
extremely weighty personage, judging by the impression made
in the granite. There were also no less than four pieces of
the bones of Buddha, and some of the eating vessels, incense
burners, and other articles employed by him when on earth ;
and a few articles likewise that had belonged to his apostles.
There was a wooden image of Kwannon, and a bronze shrine
of hers, of the date of the thirty-third emperor, who reigned
in the sixth century, and therefore before the introduction
of Buddhism into Japan. This shrine, thirteen hundred
years old, was beautifully adorned with engraved figures,
and otherwise. There was an old bell or sounding plate,
giving out different sounds when struck in different places,
and five metallic mirrors over one thousand years old.
There was an ancient tray, upon which had been written,
between one thousand and eleven hundred years ago, what
is pronounced by specialists to be the most perfect writing
in Japan— although what standards the specialists set up I
am at a loss to imagine. It is the production of Kobo
Daishi, a very eminent scholar and priest, who went to
Korea and China to study there the knowledge and religion
of that period, and brought back an eminent zeal for the
Buddhist faith, afterwards founding in Japan the sect known
as that of Shin Gon, as previously related. He was the

* See vol. i. chap, viii., on “The Hojo Domination.”

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NAR A.

1G9

author of a Ja2">anese alphabet, which he introduced very
early in the ninth century of our era.* There was also an
extremely vigorous contemporary drawing illustrating the
rebuilding of this great temple, the principal subject being
the transport of an immense log of timber, which was
carried upon a four-wheeled truck, and drawn by a large
crowd of men. Instead of a whip wherewith to lash the
hauling crowd — as in the clever picture, and no less clever
imitation, by Mr. Tenniel of ‘ The Israelites in Egypt ’ — the
principal character in the picture was armed only with a
(johei,^ goheis being, in fact, so far as I could see, the only
stimulants brought to bear upon the labourers. There were
also some large and magnificent wood carvings, among them
being one of the martyred scholar and prime minister
Sugawara Michizane, whose banishment was brought about by
intrigue in 903 a.d. Here again was a box in which a prince
imperial had been put six hundred years ago, and covered
with sacred Buddhist writings, and thus smuggled out of
the power of his enemies ; here one of a million little turned
models of a quasi-pagoda which were distributed twelve
hundred years ago at the founding of the neighbouring
temple of Horiuji (already spoken of), each containing a
passage from the Buddhist scriptures ; here the model of
the pagoda of that temple of the same date, made before the
pagoda itself was erected, and here boxes of MS. Buddhist
scriptures thirteen hundred years old, inscribed in gold on

* “ There is another arrangement was contrived for the purpose of
of the Japanese syllabary, said to have facilitating the memorising of the
been invented by the priest Kobo- syllabary. Being divided into words,

daishi, who was one of the most the whole composes the following

celebrated Japanese scholars. It celebrated stanza : —

‘ I-ro-ha ni-ho-he-to chi-ri-nu-ru-wo
Wa-ga-yo ta-re-so tsu-ne-ra-u
Wi-no-o-ku ya-ma ke-fu-ko-ye-te
A-sa-ki yu-me mi-shi e-hi-se-su.’

From the first three letters in this — ‘ Outline History of Education in
arrangement the syllabary is com- Japan ’ (Philadelphia Exhibit),
monly called the I-ro-ha, just as the f A Japanese religious emblem, as
English word alphabet has been de- elsewhere explained,
rived from the first two Greek letters.”

170

JAPAN.

[chap. vm.

blue paper. The imperial family, in addition to its dis-
tinction as a dynasty lasting through so many centuries,
and to its many other claims to notice, has distinguished
itself apparently' by producing a wonderful member of the
house, who became a hermit, and acquired the remarkable
power of eating a certain kind of fish, and then breathing
out images of Buddha from his holy lips. An image of this
sainted personage is to be seen here. ]\[ore historical pos-
sibly are the fragments of clothes worn at Nara when it was
the capital of the empire eleven hundred years ago. It
struck me as a noteworthy fact that the modern spirit has
penetrated Japan so thoroughly that an exhibition of modern
works and educational appliances was to be held not only in
this odd, out-of-the-world city, in the centre of the country,
but in the very temple wdiich for more than one thousand
years had been signalised for the colossal character of the
idol which there was worshipped.

Leaving the great temple of Dai-butsu, we ascended a very
long flight of steps, and proceeded to see and hear the large
bell, weighing over thirty tons, of the same date as the
temple. It was slung too low, owing to an error in the
building, and, consequently, was struck below the boss
intended to receive the blow, and from this cause possibly,
although the sound was mellow and prolonged, it was
not pure.

We next visited the temples of Nigetsu, dedicated to
the goddess Kwannon, who appears under various con-
ditions in her temples. The first temple on this spot
was the shrine of an image found eleven hundred and
twenty-eight years ago, but the building was burnt
down and rebuilt one hundred years ago. The approaches
to and grounds about this temple were remarkable, even
among those of similar shrines in Japan, for^ the extra-
ordinary number, variety, and beauty of their toro (fixed
lanterns), in stone and bronze. It is not possible to convey
readily in words a true idea of the extent to which this
system of presenting lanterns to temples is here carried,
or a true impression of the beauty of many of them.

The Great Temple of Dai-butsu, at Nara. to face page mo, voi. ii.

. »

CHAP. VIII.]

THE SACEED CITY OF NAEA.

171

especially those in bronze. It really would almost appear
that the ingenuity of man, moving within certain con-
ventional limits of size and form, had exhausted itself in
giving variety to them. Even those of stone exhibit great
differences of design, and are often beautifully ornamented
with carving and engraving.

I must observe in passing that the landscape view from
the hillsides on which these temples stand is peculiarly
tine, and it was refreshing — both at Nara and elsewhere,
while visiting a succession of temples, and observing the
infinite pains men have taken to get away from the simple
elements of religious feeling and worship, and to indulge
the rudest and wildest fancies in setting up their own
emblems of what is divine — to step occasionally into the
open air, in view of some beautiful stretch of scenery, and
there, lit with the sun and blown on by the breeze, to he
thankful that the power of enjoying the world and works
of God is still continued to us. Under such conditions,
even the distant temples and pagodas — being distant —
seemed scarcely to hurt the beauty and purity of nature.

One of this group of Kwannon temples is quite a chamber
of the gods. The building is nearly eleven hundred and
fifty years old, never having been burnt down, as so many
such edifices have been. Of all the gods and goddesses
here accommodated I will only mention one, but that
shall be a very remarkable one — the Kwannon of a thou-
sand hands. In strict truth this sacred lady had not, I
believe, so many arms and hands as a thousand : I looked
well at her, and although I do not suppose that I saw them
all, I could not count many, if any, more than fifty. These
were all in use, however, holding cups, lotus-flowers,
mirrors, swords, croziers, infant hands, small gods, and
many other necessary articles. Another Kwannon goddess
here has three eyes.

Our next visit was to the Shinto temple of Hachiman
of Tamoki, in connection with which is an ancient building
used as a safe-house for the temple. It is eleven hundred
years old, and is built almost exactly like the log-houses of

172

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

modern Kussian villages, but is raised well above tbe ground.
The temple was built in the reign of the empress Kokei,
in the middle of the eighth century.

We now visited a tea-house a little farther up the hill,
from which a very fine view of the valley was obtainable,
and where we made the acquaintance of a charming girl,
the daughter of the house, who spoke a little English,
and who, with her chaperone, completed the tour of the
temples with us, adding brightness to the day’s brightness.
The view from the house was superb, commanding the
whole valley in which Nara lies. The only building in the
whole city that reminded one in the least degree of Europe
was seen near the great pagoda, a mile away, and this
building we found to be one of those normal schools which
the present enlightened and progressive government of
Japan has established throughout the country.

The Shinto temple of Kasuga came next on our route,
with its sacred deer wandering about in the grounds, the
gods of the temple having brought them there originally
from Kashima. Four gods and goddesses have their shrines
in this temple, which was built about two hundred years
after the temple of Dai-butsu. The four shrines have,
however, to be rebuilt every twenty years. It will be
worth while to give the names, as they were given to me
on the spot, of those to whom these shrines are dedicated,
although they will hardly be intelligible to some of my
readers. Each shall have a line to itself.

1. Takemikadotchinokami.

2. Futsunushinokami.

3. Amatsukoyanenokami.

4. Himeokami (daughter of the last-named).

I believe I shall not be far wrong, however, in identifying
these deities as follows. It will be remembered that in the
chapter on the Shinto Eeligion I had occasion to mention
the gods who descended from heaven to conquer the country
for Ninigi-no-Mikoto, and I gave the names as

Take-mika-dzuchi, and
Futsu-nushi,

CHAP. YIII.]

THE SACRED CITY OF NAB A.

173

the honorific affix “ no kami ” being omitted in both cases.
Now the second of these names is precisely the same as that
given me here at Nara, if we omit the same affix ; and the
first is so nearly like the other as to leave little or no
doubt about their identity likewise. No direct identification
of the third god has occurred to me, but I remember that in
some accounts it is said that the god who was associated
with Take-mika-dzuchi on his mission from heaven to Japan
was Ame-no-tori-fune, and that the latter was despatched
by the former to summon hack the god Koto-shiro-nushi from
hunting and fishing to say if he would surrender the country.
It is possible, and even probable, that this may he the third
god worshipped here — a supposition which at least has the
merit of associating the four gods consistently together ;
but whether my conjecture as to the third god be correct
or not, only probably Japanese scholars can say. It is,
however, beyond doubt that the gods still worshipped in this
temple of Nara are those who are supposed to have sur-
rendered the country to the present dynasty at the demand
of messengers from heaven.

At this temple again we found lanterns literally by the
thousand — three thousand of them ; no less than six hundred
are lighted every night. I hope the priests who were good
enough to meet us at this temple and conduct us through it
— as, indeed, did the priests of the Buddhist temples already
mentioned, usually giving us tea, cakes, and cigarettes
wherewithal to refresh ourselves — will forgive me for saying
that this very impressive temple derived, in my opinion,
most of its nobleness from the truly magnificent old sugi
and other trees which everywhere abounded within its
precincts, and from the noble avenues by which it was
approached. Older or finer trees than many included within
the torii of this temple are seldom to be found.

The important Shinto shrine of Wakamiya, which we had
yet to see before leaving these eastern groups of temples,
was made very interesting to us by the circumstance that
the priests were good enough to have a religious dance
performed for our instruction. The dancers were three

174

JAPAN.

[chap. viti.

young virgins dressed in red crape, with white robes over,
and adorned with two large hunches of artificial flowers
standing out like floral horns from their foreheads, balanced
by two gilt ornaments projecting backwards from the neck.
Three surpliced young men, gifted with a great power of
remaining steady for a long time upon one note, led the
dance with vocal and instrumental music. Like all Japanese
dances, the present one was entirely unlike everything that
passes for dancing in Europe, consisting rather of posturing,
attitudinising, advancing and retreating, and other such
movements, usually conducted very slowly. In the course
of the dance the girls each made use of a bunch of bells
with silk hands depending from it, as usual in the Shinto
dances — in imitation, doubtless, of the goddess Uzume, who,
according to tradition, employed in her dancing small hells
suspended from a hamhoo cane. The dance was in some
respects pretty, as all graceful movements of well-trained
young girls are sure to he ; hut I hope it had in it some
profounder religious significance than I could discern, for in
other respects it was not to he considered inspiriting. They
were unfeigned thanks, however, which we tendered to the
chief priest for his courtesy in showing me so interesting a
spectacle — the first temple-dance we had seen in Japan.

We now took omy jmrihis and drove to a hatch of temples,
all Buddhist, near the great pagoda of Nara, situated near
the centre of the present town, in what has now been its
public garden for the last seven years, under the new regime.
These temples are all over one thousand years old, and in some
of them we find again the Kwannon of one thousand arms,
and also one of six arms. It would be tedious here to dwell
upon the details of these places of worship, although they
were extremely interesting for many reasons. Suffice it to
say that in one of them I was presented with a little carved
god of wood .as a souvenir, and I am strongly inclined to
believe that if he should prove to do me little or no good, he
will most assuredly not work me any sort of mischief — which
cannot as a rule he confidently said of either gods or men.
Before returning to tiffin, we looked at the celebrated

CHAP. VITI.]

TEE SACREJ) CITY OF NARA.

175

Haneno-Matz, or flowering pine, a tree which, if it be not
itself over eleven hundred years old, is at least in the direct
succession of a line of pine-trees that have occupied the
same spot continuously throughout that period. This in-
spection over, we lost no time in seeking our refreshments,
after which we gave the afternoon to hunting the old
curiosity shops, of which there are a few at Nara which I
can strongly recommend to those who desire to possess
themselves of some of the remaining antiquities of Japan.
It is quite a mistake to suppose that all the old and curious
and valuable things have been bought up ; there are many
remaining, and to those who care for them the twenty-six
miles’ run from Osaka in a jinrihi will he well repaid by a
few days spent in this ancient, historic, and most charming
city of Nara.

Our return trip was a delightful one. Up at seven in the
morning, we were soon sunning ourselves in the delicious
brightness and warmth, with a pretty and curious garden
before us, and old temples, old woods, and old hills all around
us, and a sky above us far older than all of them, and yet
wrought of material as unsubstantial and evanescent as a
dream. The attendant girls, more numerous even than on
the previous evening, took leave of us with regards as
lingering as if we had known and loved them all our lives,
and we were ourselves loth to leave beings so engaging and
pleasant as we had found them. But away we went, taking
another view of the old home of Dai-butsu among the hills
that had sheltered the spot long before he made it sacred —

“ Long ere great Buddlia strode

Upon his calm, colossal, godlike way
O’er the broad rolling rivers of Cathay,

By the Korean road.

And stepping stormy seas

Hither, to mount the golden lotus throne
Of Nara, there to rule and muse alone.

Through lingering centuries.”

Passing once more the grim gatekeepers, away we rolled,
merrily through the merry morning, past the old temples and

176

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

pagodas ; among tlie staring people ; between the huge
lanterns of the portal, and on to the westward-spreading
plain over which eleven hundred years ago the imperial
sacred city shone. On our right lay large mounds, the tombs
of emperors and empresses, each one of whom has been a god
for ages past. Over their tomhs spread clumps of pine-trees,
and beneath the pines stand their shrines, to which a people
reverent, and with cause, of their ancestral gods resort to
breathe forth their simple prayers. About a mile and a half
from the present boundary we reached a village, at which the
road turned right and left, and it was to this point that the
ancient capital extended. Three fourths of a mile on the
southern road stands a pagoda, and this, in those old days,
marked the southern boundary of the city. The limits are
fixed by the names of the roads and villages which indicate the
avenues, boulevards, and streets of a city. The temples and
pagodas, by the nature of their designations, serve to
complete the desired record. The pagoda referred to stands
in a village the name of which signifies the Western
Temples, and is known to have formed the western limit of the
capital, the temples round the Dai-butsu being the Eastern
Temples, and forming, as they did then and do now, the
eastern limit. The plain over which the city stretched is
now cultivated to the last inch of it, but after crossing it, it
was easy on looking back, with the aid of a stimulated and
sympathetic imagination, to restore the former greatness
and glory of the place, the distant parts (those which we had
recently left) standing up in the morning light and shining
in it precisely as they had done when reality and not imagina-
tion made the display. The road-scenes, the village-scenes,
the wood-scenes, the mountain-scenes, the river-scenes, of the
return journey took their places in the brilliant panorama as
we spun along ; and as it was hard to write, even to the extent
of jotting down notes, in the leaping and jumping jinriki-sha,
I utilised the circumstances (as on similar occasions) by com-
posing verses, into which I will hope some of the beauty and
the spirit of the time found its way. At a quarter past one
we emerged from the gorges of the hills, and at half past

CHAP. VIII.] THE SACRED CITY OF NAB A

177

one the white walls of Osaka Castle again glittered in the
distance.

Before reaching Sakai we turned off to the south, in order to
pass through a fine group of Shinto temples and shrines, cover-
ing, I should think, thirty to forty acres. Some of the small
shrines were so picturesque, both in themselves and in their
surroundings, that one was strongly tempted to linger among
them, and to sketch, however roughly, the prettiest of them.
But this our time did not allow, and we were able only for a
moment to witness the sun-goddess lavishing her light upon
the shrines and symbols reared in her honour. On entering
Sakai, once more the whole population turned out along the line
of route, thus politely offering themselves again for inspection.
Alighting at the house of a private gentleman of wealth, who
was unfortunately too ill to appear, we were received in the
kindest manner by the mayor, with whom we were, delighted
to see his excellency Minister Kawamura, who had recovered
from an indisposition which prevented him from visiting Nara.
We found ourselves once more in a purely Japanese residence
of a high class, one of its features being a small fish-
pond, with very large gold and other fish, embedded in the
centre of the house. The house was beautifully built and
decorated, and the mayor — who is fond of antiquities, as we
saw on our previous visit— had brought for our inspection a
fine collection of old Japanese coins, jewels, mirrors, jars, and
other articles of very great age. Luncheon was served
European fashion for our convenience, but most of the dishes
were Japanese, and tea was subsequently made and served by
the daughters of the house, in that elaborate and ceremonial
style which shows with what care and delicacy even the
simplest operations of domestic life may be performed when
people can afford the time for studying them. The two
richly dressed girls, with their pure Japanese faces, hair
curiously cut and contrived after the fashion of the country,
kneeling at their tea-service, and attended by kneeling-
servants in the background, formed as pretty a picture as
you could anywhere find even among the exquisite and
varied arts of Japan. But like the pictures of the sun-

VOL. IT.

178

JAPAN.

[chap. VIII.

goddess which we had just passed, it was one over which -we
could not linger, for w-e had arrived late, the hour of four
was getting near, we w^ere still from one and a half to two
hours’ distance from our residence in Osaka, and we had to
dress for a great dinner, with which the day, as we saw" in the
last chapter, concluded.

THE COLOSSAL DAI-HLTSU OF KAMAKUKA.

( 179 )

CHAPTEE IX.

KIOTO, OR SAIKIO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

Clianges of name — The “ cockpit ” of Japan — Arrival at Kioto — Lodgings
in a Buddhist temple — Baths of Maruyama— General view of the
city — Temples of Higashi-Otani aud Chionin — The Mikado’s palace —
The emperor-god — The throne -room, study, bed-chamber — The
apartments of the empress — Imperial gardens — Shinto temple at
Shimagomo — A summer- seat of the Mikado — The silver-storied temple
— Pastimes of the sacred and secular monarchs — Temples of the eight
million gods — Other temples — Government industrial establishments
and schools — Female normal school — “Sweet girl-graduates” — Educa-
tion of dancing-girls and geishas — A banquet with Buddhist digni-
taries— Illuminations — A rashiyama— Fishing and boating on a moun-
tain-river— A palace tiffin — Japanese music — The loji temples —
Superfluous gods — Another Buddhist banquet — Ancient Japanese and
Chinese temple dances — Presents — The gentle Buddha — An historical
exhibition — Literary treasures — Porcelain works — Hideyoshi at
“ Clear-water Temple ” — Nishi - Otani — National dances — Silk and
other factories — Street strolls — Mount Hiyei.

On Wednesday the 24th of February we left Osaka for
Kioto, the former capital of Japan. When Yedo was made
the seat of government, and had its name changed to Tokio,
or Eastern Capital, the name of Kioto was officially changed
to Saikio, or Western Capital. In the former case Tokio
has everywhere superseded Yedo, but except in government
documents its old name, Kioto, clings to the western city
still.

Several of our Osaka friends came to see our party off by
the train. Governor Watanabe and Mr. Godai giving us the
honour and pleasure of their company on the short railway
journey. The route lies through the “ cockpit ” of Japan,
where many a hard and prolonged contest has been fought,

N 2

180

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

tlie last of wliicli was the deadly four days’ struggle between
the troops of the Mikado and those of the Shogun, early in
1868, which resulted victoriously for the young Mikado,
and gave him that undisputed power which he has since
worthily exercised.

On reaching the railway station at Kioto, we were met by
the carriages of the governor, and driven at once to the
Buddhist temple of Kenninji, where quarters had been
prepared for us, with careful regard to our European habits,
and to the impediments they would meet with in a house
adapted only to the habits of Japanese. European tables,
chairs, beds, and other similar furniture had been provided,
the manufactures of Kioto being richly illustrated by an
abundance of beautiful rugs, embroidered silk table covers,
cloisonne cigar-boxes, and porcelain services. The walls
were hung with kakemonos of rare merit, and in every
room were folding-screens of great beauty, some of them
displaying the best obtainable specimens of that embossing
and embroidering with silk in which the Japanese are
excelled by none. The rooms were made still more beauti-
ful and interesting by bronzes, porcelain figures, and lacquer
work of the best kind. These latter, together with the
pictures, were changed daily during our stay in Kioto
(as elsewhere mentioned), to increase the attractions of the
residence. The house has beautiful gardens, upon one of
which our rooms gave, and in sunny hours, of which we
had many, was a miniature paradise — without the embarrass-
ments of an Eve in this case.

After taking some tea, we sauntered forth to the mineral
baths at Maruyama, where we climbed a tower and obtained
a splendid view of the old historic city, with the crested
summit of Mount Atago in front of us westward, and ranges
of hills in every other direction. For eleven centuries this
city, lying there below us, had been the capital of this
extraordinary country, the government of which had always,
throughout that long period, been of such a nature as to
make the capital the centre of its infiuence. Beyond the
city, in the south, lay the ground on which the great and

CHAP. IX.]

KIOTO, TEE WESTERN CAPITAL.

181

decisive struggles for the dominion of the country had over
and over again taken place, the last so recently as 1868,
when the troops of the Shogun, who was seeking to obtain
possession of the person of the Mikado, were defeated and
routed by the loyal troops, whose valour, displayed through
three days of fighting, secured for Japan the freedom, the
enlightened administration, and the growing constitutional-
ism which she now enjoys.

After witnessing the beautiful and touching prospect for
a time — having each his own thoughts, probably, about
the fleeting fates of cities and nations, and the comparative
permanence of the old hills and the immeasurably older sun
that was then steeping all the scene in warmth and lustre —
we strolled to the large and splendid Buddhist temples of
Higashi-Otani and Chionin. In a quaint and very brief little
guidebook of the city Mr. Yamamoto says of the former :
“ Higashi-Otani was constructed about the year 1690 after
the Christian era, and its idol was Midabuds, which was
thought to be very sacred to the people. For this reason
the structure was completed much more grandly than any
others. I think it may be called one of the most distin-
guished places, for it grants a delightful sight of Kiyoto.
It has a comely gate called Karamon, and before you enter
the gate you will find .a very nice road with shady trees on
both sides.” This is rather meagre information, so I will
add that Higashi-Otani is really the cemetery belonging to
the great temple of Higashi-Honganji (of which I shall
have occasion to speak hereafter), and is under the same
control. It is famous as containing the grave of Shinran
Shonin, the founder of the great Shinshu sect of Buddhists,
as stated in the chapter on Buddhism. There is a noted
stone upon the grave, known from its shape as Toraishi
(Tiger-stone), which was at the spot where Shinran Shonin
died, but was taken in Hideyoshi’s time to the castle ,of
Fushimi, and brought thence afterwards to its present
place. The buildings are about one hundred and ninety
years old. The name Otaiii — which, as wo shall afterwards
see, is the family name of the heads of the Shinshu sect —

182

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

was derived from tlie ground first appropriated as the grave-
place of Sliinran Slionin, upon which now stands the great
temple of Chionin, to which we next proceeded. Higashi
Otani is famous also for the beauty of its display of blossoms
in springtime.

Of the other temple, Chionin, Mr. Yamamoto says :
“Chionin, where the prior exhibition of last spring [1872]
took place, is a large and most magnificent temple in Kiyoto.
It was erected by Genkuwu, a successful priest of the
Buddhist religion, for the purpose of spreading the religion
through this country, about the year 1202 after the Chris-
tian era. The present edifice, which is a wonderfully large
and splendid building, was built by the illustrious carpenter
Hidari Jingoro. There is also a great hell that is 18 feet
high from the top to the bottom, and 10 inches thick. It
is on the hill to the south-east of the edifice.”

On the following morning we commenced our serious
survey of the city, and first visited the palace of his
majesty the Mikado, entering by the “ Gate of the Sun.”
This palace and grounds are of great interest historically,
as they exhibit the conditions under which the Mikado
existed before the late revolution of 1868, until which
time he had been secluded as a sacred personage, whose foot
must not touch the ground, and who was to the great hulk
of his subjects, and indeed to all, even less approachable
than any other of their gods. It was in this palace that
the emperor-god dwelt: here he was enthroned, here married,
here lived, here died. When he walked in these gardens,
mats were laid before him as he stepped, to keep his foot
from touching earth, and when he left them, as he rarely
did, he was conveyed in a large carriage closed in by screens,
and, as he passed along, the people stopped and worshipped.
Any eye that saw his sacred form would, the people believed,
he blinded by the sight. Here he somehow had to lead his
life, with none of the duties of government left to him, and
finding it difficult no doubt to wear the hours away, being a
monarch and yet a prisoner, a god and yet a slave !

The palace buildings differ externally in no way that an

CHAP. IX.]

KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

183

untrained eye can discover from the residences of ordinary
nobles, or from the ordinary forms of Buddhist temples and
temple buildings. It certainly is not superior, or even
equal, in construction to many of the temples of Kioto. In
the square in front of the throne-room (Shishindeen) were
on the one hand a cherry-tree and on the other an orange-
tree, which the Mikado Jito planted in the seventh century ;
or rather let us say, the present trees had come down in a
direct and unbroken line of succession from those planted on
the same spots by Jito. The Shishindeen was but little
more than a large open room, with a small throne-chamber
partitioned off opposite to the central entrance. This
chamber contained a chair (in lieu of the throne) and a
pair of bronze Korean dogs, whose presence at the foot of
the Mikado’s throne was an emblem, I presume, of the
conquest of Korea by the empress Jingu Kogo sixteen
hundred years ago. On the wall were very good portraits
of the present emperor and empress, painted in European
style, and lower down representations of thirty-two of the
wise men of China. We next went to the ceremonial
chamber, outside of which were two bamboo bushes, the
object of which was said by my informant to have been to
collect birds whose songs and twitterings would wake the
Mikado early, at the time when his sleeping-chamber was in
this building. After passing through the reception-rooms of
the residential part of the palace, we came to a beautiful
garden, with winding waters, stepping-stone paths, stone and
wooden bridges, and trees trained and distributed after the
picturesque fashion of the country. Giving upon this garden
was the Mikado’s study, decorated with some of the prettiest
and most chaste paintings anywhere to be seen. Passing
on through other rooms of residence, looking over, or rather
into, other gardens — for seclusion seemed to have been the
ruling object with which the gardens had been composed,* —
we came to his majesty’s bedroom, an inner room remark-

* I say composed, for a Japan- should be regarded as a pictui e, but
ese garden is essentially an artistic as a picture with many points of
composition, and to be appreciated view.

184

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

able chiefly from the circumstance that its walls Tvere through-
out adorned with fine and spirited paintings of wild beasts,
very evil-looking beasts most of them. I remarked that
this seemed a strange class of decoration for a bedchamber,
but was told — it is not for me to conjecture with what
correctness— that the object was to scare demons from the
imperial and divine presence ! Adjoining the bedchamber,
with its guard of painted wild beasts, is a small but splendid
room, in which his majesty used to keep his valuables, or, as
I rather think, the sacred stone or jewel, and the copies of
the other sacred symbols of the Shinto religion — the sword
and the mirror, of which the originals are at the famous
shrines of Ise and Atsuta. Then came a spring room and a
summer room, of which the former is adorned with paintings
of one hundred animals, while the latter looks upon another
exceedingly pretty garden. There were likewise the usual
small room for ceremonial tea- taking, a flower- room, and
other apartments. The passages of temples and palaces of
this kind are usually decorated by paintings upon the
natural wood, which often have a very pleasant and effective
appearance ; but in this instance I observed that the walls
of the long passages connecting the apartments of the
emperor and empress are altogether without paintings,
and although the empress has very charming quarters, and
some of the paintings upon her walls are exceedingly grace-
ful and pretty, her rooms are on the whole much inferior to
those of the emperor. Near to the quarters of the empress
is the wedding-room, in w^hich the imperial couples were
married, with a gate close by for the admission of the lady
who was to have the distinguished honour of becoming the
mother of Mikados. In the gardens were a bridge formed of
a single stone, some trees trained into curiously twisted
forms, a tea-house, and withal an earthquake-house — not an
uncommon provision in this country, which, as w^e found
when in Tokio, appears at times to be floated upon earth-
quakes.

Departing from the palace, we proceeded in our jinrihi-
.'ihas to the great Shinto temple of Kamonnoyanoshinsha,

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTEKN CAPITAL.

185

at the village of Shimagomo, on the northern side of the
city. This is one of the temples the expenses of which are
provided by the government. It was built in commemoration
of Tamayorihime and Oanamuchino Mikoto, and has two
shrines dedicated to them. It is one of the largest temples
in or near Kioto, and has been reverenced by the Mikados —
so the priests of tlie temple informed me — beyond all others.
The date of its foundation is uncertain, but the Kin-sliald
states that Kamo was first built in the seventh year of the
reign of Sujin-Tenno (and therefore ninety-two years before
Christ), and the Kohushi history of Japan says that in the
second month of the sixth year of Temmu-Tenno (679 a.d.)
Kamo was repaired by the Yamashiro district, in which it
stands. My readers will he glad to learn who were the
distinguished individuals to whom the two shrines were
dedicated, and whose unfamiliar names I have faithfully,
and I hope correctly, recorded. I know but little of them,
but I am able to state that they stood to each other in the
relation of father and daughter, the name beginning with 0
belonging to the father. The daughter, the princess Tama-
yori, is said to he the first person who improved the land of
Yamashiro, and, if that he true, no right-minded reader will
question her claim to a shrine ; while her father Oanamuchi
— well, he was the princess’s father, and in Japan the father
of every distinguished person is honoured even before the
person himself.* But according to one history, he appears
to have been personally worthy, for the Nijdiou ShoJci
represents that he acted as a guide to the army which
Jimmu-Tenno, the first Mikado, sent against the rebellious
eastern savages, and enabled it to conquer them |

This temple is approached by a long avenue of noble trees.

* When a person exhibits par-
ticular skill in public, in the wrest-
ling ring or elsewhere, the compli-
mentary cry of the spectators is
equivalent, I am told, to “ Has he
not a father?” or “Has be father?”
the recognition of the father being
the immediate result of individual

merit.

t I have repeated in the text the
information given me on the spot ;
but on pages 35, 36 of vol. i. will be
found facts which go to show that the
deities of this temple are the mother
of the first emperor, Jimmu, and her
father.

186

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

the ground beyond being well wooded. It is, in fact, quite*
a delightful open park-like place, resembling in this respect
most of the great temples in this country — a beneficent
circumstance for the crowded towns in and about which
these temples are situated. The buildings and shrines
presented the usual appearance of the larger Shinto temples,
and, as the movable curiosities and antiquities of the place
had been lent to a forthcoming local exhibition, there was
but little to see beyond the buildings. The chief priest and
his assistants were very pleasant and hospitable, and offered
us tea and biscuits in abundance. As we walked back
through the long avenue I could not but remember the lines
(of Bryant, I believe) beginning —

“ The groves were God’s first temples.”

I suppose His last will be that

“ Temple of immortal splendour ”
which holds the worlds

‘‘Within its arching walls of diamond light.”

After crossing the bed of one branch of the Kamogawa,
which here divides into two, we again committed ourselves
to our man-carriages, and started for a hillside summer seat
of his majesty the Mikado, called Shugakuin. This we
found to be a fine wooded park, containing a large artificial
lake with islands, and furnished with numerous tea- and
summer-houses, some of which offered delightful views of
the Kioto valley and the Atago mountains beyond. Here
and there, in selected places, the summer-house tables had
been spread with light refreshments, and upon the lake were
boats, one of them hung with flags and gala trappings. It
was a lovely scene, and one which it was impossible for
innocent people not to enjoy ; and we did enjoy it. We
boated and strolled and moved our minds over the land-
scape, and let the quiet and the beauty of the place have
their own way with us — and what a pleasure it is to let the
quiet and the beauty of any natural scenery do that in these
days of hurrying activity ! I ought to mention, as part of

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

187

the pleasures of the place, that the tables were furnished for
the occasion with some of the choicest productions of Kioto
manufacture, in the shape of embroidered silk table-covers,
porcelain tea-services, cigar-holders and ash-cups of cloissone
work, and so forth. Before leaving, we found a substantial
tiffin spread in the entrance-house of the park, and this, as
well as everything else in this beautiful place, we carefully
endeavoured to appreciate. Shugakuin was built about two
hundred and fifty years ago by lyemitsu, one of the great
Shoguns of the Tokugawa family, whose daughter was married
to the Mikado, and who played so signal a part in the history
of the country that he has received fuller notice elsewhere.

On leaving the imperial grounds we visited, hard by, Mr.
Schumako’s large private school, which is well known in the
neighbourhood. It is a mixed school of boys and girls, and
the opportunity we had of observing the teaching in the
various class-rooms convinced me that the instruction there
given in elementary knowledge was solid and good.

We next proceeded by a pleasant country road, which was
very steep and rough in places, and much of it bordered with
tea-plantations, to the Buddhist temple of G-inkakuji (Silver-
storied Temple), which was built more than four hundred
years ago by the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who had the
best procurable things brought from all parts of Japan for
its construction and ornamentation. It was originally his
country seat, named Higashiyama-den (Palace of the
Eastern Mountains) by Go Tsuchi Mikado Tenno, but now
his (Yoshimasa’s) image, carved by a clever contemporary, is
one of the principal objects of worship. An image of Amita
two feet high, standing in a lotus-flower, which was the
object of his own worship, is also still worshipped here.
Yoshimasa like many other monarchs and quasi-monarchs
has become more famous from a comparatively trivial cir-
cumstance than from any of his more serious acts. He
was the first person to establish, in a small room (of
“ mats ”), into which we went, what is known in Japan
as ceremonial tea-taking, to which I have on other occasions
adverted. In doing so he acted upon the advice of the

188

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

clever friend who, as just stated, carved his image, one
Sohami. This Sohami appears to have been a fellow of very
various accomplishments, for, besides his carving and his
tea-making, he did some very clever painting on a screen,
which was shown to us, and he was represented by the
priests, who were good enough to take us about the temple,
to have been a most learned man besides. We also saw some
fine old paintings by the famous artist Kano Masanohu, who,
with his son, founded the Kano School of Japanese painters.
The tea-room in the Tokindo to which I have referred is
further interesting on account of the visits which the em-
peror above-named (Go-Tsuchi, who reigned 1465-1501)
used to pay to Yoshimasa at this palace, and of the tea-taking
that used to he carried on by them on such occasions in this
little room. At such times these two — the sacred and the
secular monarchs of the country, as they may he roughly
called — used further to amuse and interest themselves by
the equally harmless processes of burning and smelling in-
cense and of composing poetry. Several compositions of the
emperor, and articles liked by him, are still preserved in this
temple. Yoshimasa died in his fifty-sixth year, leaving
instructions that his seat should he converted into a temple
of the “ Jen ” sect, which was done, the chief priest, Hosho
Shuzai, of Shokokuji, one of the principal Jen temples then
in Japan, being appointed to govern the new one. Since
then the families of Ashikaga, Konoye, and Nijio, all noble,
have furnished the chiefs of the temple, which, until about
one hundred years ago, was very flourishing. In front of
the temple is a curious winding steep-sided mound of
sand, about four feet high, and a frustrum of a cone
of the same material somewhat higher, which have been
kept up 'ever since Yoshimasa’s time, although they look
as if the first shower of rain would go far towards level-
ling them. I was told, however, that the hot sun does
much more injury to them than rain. There is also
a most lovely garden here, hut one with an antique look
about it, shrubs, trees, buildings all looking very, very
old. There is an old and small separate two-storied

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

189

building likewise, which gives the name of Silver-storied
Temple ” to the whole.* It has a parlour or tea-room
below, and a shrine of Kwannon above, all looking, to me,
neglected, and likely soon to tumble to pieces ; but this
may have been a mistaken impression. Within the grounds
of this temple there were also some small Shinto shrines,
with torii and everything complete. I had often before seen
the temple grounds of the two religions, Buddhist and
Shinto, running more or less into each other apparently ;
nor was this altogether surprising, seeing the efforts made
by some of the early Buddhist missionaries and converts to
make their own faith include the Shinto — efforts carried by
some (Kobo-da.ishi, for instance) to the length of asserting,
as previously stated, that the Shinto gods were, in fact,
neither more nor less than so many manifestations of
Buddha. I had not before observed, however, the presence
of the shrines of the one faith entirely within the temple-
precincts of the other, as here. Nor could I get any
satisfactory explanation of the circumstance. What made
the matter still more difficult, perhaps, was the alleged fact
that these Shinto shrines dated from the foundation of the
place. It was suggested by one of the attendants of the
temple that probably they were erected for private worship
by the founder, Yoshimasa, before the conversion of the
palace into a temple ; but there are difficulties in that
explanation of the matter which are obvious. Ginkakuji
was visited by the present empress of Japan in January
1877.

From Ginkakuji we drove to the famous Shinto temples of
Yoshida, which, like the former, are situated upon the open
hilly ground on the north-east^ of the city, but are some-
what nearer to it. These temples, which were built three
hundred and sixty years ago, cover many acres of a beauti-
ful wooded hill, with approaches from its opposite sides.
They ought to be very sacred temples indeed, for they are

* It was the intention of Yoshimysa building with silver leaves; hence
to adorn the walls and ceiling of this the name.

190

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

dedicated to no less than eight million gods, all of whom are
gods of Japan, and all of whom have separate, though slight,
consideration shown to them in this place.* There are
several shrines at different parts of the temple grounds, hut
the eight millions of gods are worshipped in one main
temple, with a series of small shrines arranged around in
the open air under a tiled canopy. The way the matter is
managed is this : the deities are grouped according to
districts — returns having been made, I presume, of the
number in each district, from all parts of the country — and
the name of the district, with the assigned number of deities,
is written up in each case. I took a few of the numbers
down as they happened to run from one end, and found
them to he very variable, viz. 16, 34, 187, 6, fj(), 131, 65,
71, 21, 24, 24, 50, and so forth. It would obviously take an
immense number of shrines to make up the eight millions,
at this rate, for here we have but an average of less than
sixty gods per shrine; but I presume there are some dis-
tricts very much more fortunate than others, and that if
we could have given sufficient time to the matter we should
have found some in which there were deities by thousands
and tens of thousands. More interesting to me than this
congestion of consecration, if I may so speak, were some of
the minor shrines, representing the ancient Japanese archi-
tecture. There was one such shrine in which the form of
building in vogue two thousand years ago was accurately
preserved,! and another of seven hundred years later date
showing the same style somewhat elaborated. There were
also on this hill of Yoshida the tomb of some of the Mikados,
including those of Yozei, who reigned in the ninth century
(a.d.), and Nijo, who reignpd in the twelfth century, the
former living beyond the age of eighty, and the latter dying
at the early age of twenty-three. J

Near to Yoshida is the ancient and splendid Buddhist

* This is not a very large number, f See illustration on page 136, vol. i.

however, when compared with that J These dates and figures are taken

of tlie Hindu gods, of which there chiefly from the Philadelphia Educa-
are three hundred millions. tion Exhibit.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

191

temple of Shiuniyodo, which is approached hy a sloping
avenue of extremely fine red maple-trees, and is celebrated
for its beautiful flowers. This temple was founded about
the year 1050 a.d., and was originally the country seat of
Sanjo-in, the mother of the Mikado Ichijo, who reigned from
1017-36, dying at the age of twenty-nine. It was once
burnt, and rebuilt on the same site. A three-storied pagoda
is attached to it. The main shrine is dedicated to the god
Amita, of whom it contains a very famous image made hy
a priest named Ikakudieshi. The head priest — who, with
others, most kindly received and entertained us — was good
enough to open the shrine, and permit us to view the god,
before whom there happened to he standing at the time
what I presume were cups of rice, fourteen in number.
This temple contains also a very large and particularly fine
specimen of Kioto silk embroidery in a picture (about
twelve feet hy fifteen) crowded with detailed figures ex-
quisitely worked. It is a pictorial illustration of the
description of heaven given in the sacred Buddhist hooks.
The adornments of this temple are very rich, the canopy
over the chief seat of the officiating priests being a remark-
ably fine work.

We had still two great temples to inspect before our day’s
work was over, the next being the famous Buddhist temple
of Kurodani, which is one of the four great temples of the
Jodo sect. This is one of those Buddhist sects which came
from India through China to Japan, being established there
in the thirteenth century. The great Tokugawas belonged to
this sect. Kurodani stands in the same quarter (the north-
east) of Kioto as the foregoing temples, hut is somewhat
nearer the city than they. The other name of it is Shiunzan
(Purple Cloud Mountain) Konkai Komiyoji (Temple of Golden
Brilliant Light). It covers about eleven acres of ground.
The priests of the temple — who, like those of Shiuniyodo,
received us well, and entertained us in the temple with tea
and cigarettes — gave us a short account of it from a transla-
tion of which, hy a J apanese gentleman of Kioto, I take the
following passage : —

192

JAPAN.

[cflAP. IX.

“In tlie fifth year of Shoan, or 1175 a.d., when the
founder Yenko-daishi left his lovely dwelling of Kiirodani
in Mount Hi-yei [which rises high over Kioto in the
north-east] for the j^iirpose of introducing the Jodo sect,
he saw on the way to Shiuniyodo, where he used to
worship, a wonderful divine exhibition of purple cloud and
brilliant light, and on the spot he erected a temple, and
from the divine exhibition which he saw he named the
mountain Shiun, and the temj)le Konkai Komiyoji.”

The temple is, however, known by its founder, who in
that age was called by his place of abode rather than by his
name. He was known to the people of his day as Kurodani
Shonin (a high title for priests), and gradually the temple
has come to be known by the name of Kurodani. The
temple was burnt down one hundred and four years ago, and
after a few years the present structures were built by Jingo
Kaurei, the head priest of the forty-fifth generation. The
main shrine is that of Yenko-daishi himself; the adjoining
buildings are the Amitado, the shrine of Amita ; the Tenrinzo,
for the holy books ; the Kwando, the shrine for Kwannon ;
the very fine Saumon, or temple gate ; the tomb of the
founder ; and the three- storied pagoda. There are also
twenty-five dwellings for the priests of the temple. While
visiting this fine temple we had the advantage of a con-
versation with the priests upon Buddhism, and the sects
into which Buddhists are divided.

We had still the temple of Nanjenji (a little southward
of Kurodani) to visit. This also is a Buddhist temple, but
it belongs to a different sect, viz. the great Jen sect, of
which it is the principal temple in Japan. Originally it
was the pleasure palace of one of the Mikados. I have not
any very clear information respecting its conversion into a
temple, but an account was furnished to me, and I will give
it here for what it is worth, leaving the curious language to
stand in connection with the circumstances, which are quite
as curious : —

“ How the palace came to be a temple is on the following

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

193

accounts : In the beginning of Shoo, as often some
wonderful occurrences happened in the palace, so several
priests were called from Nara in order to put an end to
the occurrences, hut they could not execute their duty.
In the fourth year of Shoo, Ninkan Jenshi, the head priest
of the third generation of Toki Kuji, was called by the
emperor, and he, with twenty priests accompanying him,
made prayers in the palace, and then the occurrences
ceased for ever, so that the emperor (now retired) became
the very deep believer in Jen sect, and came to offer
his palace as a temple. In the seventh month of the
third year of Shitoku, in the reign of Gokomatsuin-Tenno,
Yoshimitsu Shogun gave to the temple, in the name of
the emperor, the first rank of the five main temples of
Jen sects.”

The present main gate of this building is a very large one,
and was built by a great general, Todo Takatora, in com-
memoration of the many soldiers killed under him in battles
at Osaka and elsewhere. It was built in eight months,
and is a very imposing structure.

Our first hours and our first day in the sacred city having
been devoted to sacred residences and temples, we gave
our next, in part, to more secular subjects ; and first we
visited the silk-factory founded by the local government, the
governor of Kioto being good enough to conduct us there
and explain its basis and management. And this may be a
convenient place for stating that in Kioto, as elsewhere, the
government appears to have taken many measures for
stimulating and aiding the productions and manufactures as
well as the education of the country. Under the city
government of Kioto there is an industrial department, the
Kuwangiyoba, which was established in 1870 specially for the
promotion of the industrial arts, and which has the following
branches: 1. An experimental gardening department (Sai-
baishi Kenjo), commenced in 1872, for the cultivation of
foreign and Japanese fruits and vegetables ; 2. A shoe-manu-
factory (Seikuwajo), begun at the same time, for extending
VOL. II. o

194

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

the manufacture of boots and shoes of European style ; 3. A
weaving-factory (Shokkoba), begun in 1873, where silks and
other fabrics are woven, principally in foreign looms : this
branch sent three workmen to Europe to learn the art of
foreign weaving; 4. A physical and chemical branch (Semi-
kiyoku), which has a sub-branch at Miyadju, in Tango,
80 miles distant, and which, with the assistance of two
foreign workmen, is promoting and teaching the manufacture
of chemicals, soap, effervescing and lemon drinks, cloisonne
ware, porcelain, etc. ; adjoining it is the Senkojo, for teaching
dyeing on foreign methods; 5. The female industrial school,
Jokoba, already mentioned ; 6. The Bokujo, or more pro-
perly Bokuchikujo, which is an experimental farm, estab-
lished in 1871 with the object of improving the breeding of
cattle and of teaching agriculture, the foreign cattle and
sheep being chiefly purchased in America, and the milk
produced being sold in the city ; a branch farm exists at
Komo in Tamba, about sixteen miles from Kioto ; 7. A
department (Yosanba) for promoting the multiplication of
silkworms; 8. A pauper industrial department (Jusansho),
established in 1869, with a branch at Dosembo, in the
south-eastern part of Kioto county, where agriculture and
the manufacture of earthenware are the principal employ-
ments of the pauper colony ; 9. A street-sweeping depart-
ment (Kuwakaisho), where compost is prepared on the French
method; 10. A paper-manufactory, established in 1875.
There exist also separate branches for making and teach-
ing how to prepare leather, beer, and mineral waters. A
museum is in course of formation.

As before stated, we visited the Shokkoba, and saw in
practice the processes of manufacturing woven fabrics of
cotton and of silk, with embroidery. Much of the work pro-
duced was strikingly beautiful, more especially in the depart-
ments for silk embroidery ; for producing artistic effects in
cut pile fabrics (velvets, etc.) by cutting part of the pile
only ; and for producing pictorial effects by dyeing velvets.
The factory is in a fine building, on the site of a former
palace, and a beautiful Japanese garden is connected with

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

195

it, with ornamental water of extreme purity and clearness,
abounding with large grey and golden carp. Although I
put a few questions respecting the economic results of this
and other government manufacturing establishments, I shall
not discuss the matter, as everything of the kind here is so
new, and all the circumstances of the country and people
are at present so entirely exceptional, that no broad and
general inferences from the results of their working could
yet he drawn.

The governor was good enough to take us next to the
“ Jiogakko,” or female normal school, established under the
auspices of the local government, and in a certain degree
under the care of the imperial government. In connection
with this school is the “ Jiokoba,” or female industrial
establishment, already adverted to. The first-named insti-
tution, founded in 1871, is formed with five classes, of which
the fifth is the lowest ; but at present only the three lower
classes have pupils. The object of this school is stated to
be to make girls fit to become good mothers. They must-be
thirteen years of age before they can enter, and must pass
through a class in six months, undergoing minor examinations
monthly, and general examinations in the presence of the
governor of Kioto every six months. Some of the students
are taught the English language. Boarding in the school is
encouraged, the charge for maintenance (food only) being one
and a half yen per month (!), the Japanese paper yen being at
present about three shillings in value. There is a vacation
for the month of August. The subjects taught are those usual
in elementary schools, with algebra, geometry, higher arith-
metic ; also English grammar and composition in the upper
classes. But in addition to the book-learning imparted, the
girls receive a very practical education in the duties of daily
life. They are taught how to dress, to wait at meals, to
receive, salute and entertain guests ; to make tea ceremonial
fashion, and to give and take it ; to dispose flowers in
vases ; to hang pictures ; to snuff the candles generally
employed in all households at present ; to dust rooms ; to
eat the larger fruits of the country (melons, etc.) ; to make

o 2

. 196

JAPAN.

[CHA1>. IX,

offerings to the gods, and so forth. In the other school, or
industrial establishment for girls, there are six classes, in
which the instruction is chiefly in the various kinds of
needle-work and weaving. In the lowest class the girls are
taught plain needle-work ; in the next, plain weaving of
cotton, with advanced needle-work ; in the next, the weaving
of cotton with patterns, the rearing of silkworms, and the
mode of making the broad girdles which form so striking a
part of the female costume in J apan ; in the third class, the
weaving of silk with cotton, the making up of the tobacco-
pouches (which are in universal use throughout the country),
and the making of plain dresses are taught ; in the second,
the weaving of silk with patterns, and the making of dolls’
dresses, foreign dresses, and silk coats ; and in the first
class the girls are practised in every kind of silk-weaving,
and in the making of lace, of dancing dresses, and of cere-
monial dresses. The pretty and useful art of composing
pictures of silk cut out into suitable designs, and -pasted
upon a groundwork of cardboard, is also taught, and taught
very successfully, in this class.* There are at present one
hundred and nine students in the Jiogakko, and one hundred
and ninety-six in the Jiokoba.

Our visit to the normal school was very interesting.
Outside of it, as we approached, “ the sweet girl-graduates ”
were ranged on either side in their pretty costumes, bowing
low as the party of visitors passed in, and remaining so till
all had entered the building. Two of the pupils played to
us on the Ixoto before we proceeded to the class-rooms, in
the first of which were twenty -four girls (all Japanese save
one), who are instructed in the English language by an
American lady, Mrs. Arnold, who was present, and who
invited us to hear some of them read. Several read accord-
ingly, and all of them with considerable skill, notably Miss
Yo Tamatei and Miss M. Omori, both of them quite young
girls. In the next class-room were six young ladies com-

* Two i)i’etty specimens of this class of art were presented to my son
and myself.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTEItN CAPITAL.

197

posing pictures of raised silk, after the manner just adverted
to, with exceedingly good effects. We then passed through
a room of one hundred girls, all engaged in making dresses,
and in needle-work of a similar kind, and I am hound to say
that they were an exceedingly pretty set of young ladies,
worthy to take very high rank among the beauties of Japan,
and fit to compare even with the charming Osaka girls. In
the next class-room were six pupils working with sewing-
machines, and in the next twenty-five, most of them
weaving, the remainder engaged in brocade-work and rug-
work. In the succeeding class rooms were thirty girls
reading Japanese history aloud in succession, with lifted
voices and pronounced emphasis, but with what ‘ amount of
merit in other respects I, unhappily, could not judge.
(Here, as in all other Japanese schools which I visited, the
reading aloud of a passage from a book was immediately
followed by explanations from the pupil, in order, I presume,
to prove that the text was properly understood and appre-
ciated— a very good system if loyally pursued — but it appeared
to me, in almost every instance, that the explanations were
delivered in precisely the same style and just as fiuently as
the text, and were therefore possibly not the spontaneous
and immediate products of their own minds.) In the next
class-room thirty girls were reading books written in the
Chinese character and grammar, but with Japanese meaning ;
in the next, twenty girls were doing arithmetic with English-
figures ; in the next, twenty-three performing embroidery,
and making up pocket-books, tobacco-pouches, etc. ; and
finally sixteen were drawing pictures of flowers, trees, etc.,
in that bold, swift-handed, and dexterous style which is the
charm of this branch of Japanese art. I could not help linger-
ing in this room among the floral beauties that were springing
from the fingers of these pretty Kioto girls, nor could I
refrain from begging one of the pictures as a reminiscence
of the pleasant scene. The whole sixteen were, however, sent
afterwards for my acceptance, and with them two additional
drawings on silk of perfect loveliness, as I think them, from
the hand of the graceful young lady who was the teacher of

198

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

the class, and over whose work, while I was present, I stood
with what was probably ill-concealed, or unconcealed, admi-
ration. I need not say how I value these treasures derived
from this interesting school of three hundred girls in the
heart of the once-sacred city of the once-exclusive empire of
Japan. But the best treasure brought from it was, perhaps,
after all, the knowledge that Japan is now governed by a
monarch and ministers who appreciate, and are resolved to
extend to boy and girl alike, the supreme blessing of edu-
cation. Many a time has this reflection already been forced
upon me in this country, but it seems a fitting place here
to record it, when one is speaking more especially of what he
saw in this female school of the good work being done,
and done throughout Japan not for the stronger sex only,
but for the weaker likewise.

“If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,

How shall men grow ? ”

The government of Japan seems to have asked itself this
question, and the answer it has given to the world may be
read in schools scattered all over the country.

From the normal school we proceeded to a crape-factory,
to see the manufacture of chirimen, a branch of industry I do
not remember having seen before, ’and one of considerable
interest in this country, where this soft and pretty material
is so largely worn. In the course of this afternoon we
visited no less than four silk-factories, witnessing, among
other things, the production of some exquisitely figured silk
velvets, and other goods of that class. These silk-factories
in Kioto are on a small scale, but numerous, the choicest and
finest manufactures for the Tokio market being produced in
some of them. In one we saw under manufacture some
exceedingly rich brocaded silk ordered by the household
department of his majesty the Mikado, and I am much
mistaken if these were not the identical fabrics which were
at a later period presented to me by his majesty’s command
in the imperial palace at Tokio.

Our visits to the silk-factories were suspended at luncheon
time, which was usefully and pleasantly spent at Karakuko,

CHAP. IX.]

KIOTO, TEE WESTERN CAPITAL.

199

a large school for young men and women established in a
splendid building which was constructed a few years ago
as the palace of a prince who has since gone elsewhere to
reside, and which was no doubt obtained at a moderate cost
for its present purpose. This school is in some degree
assisted by the government, but is mainly a private one,
having two hundred and sixty pupils. We passed through
the various class-rooms, hearing the pupils read and
expound what they read, and testing, so far as in us lay,
the quality of the education given. As a rule, we found the
metliods of instruction good, and the teachers combining
clearness of exposition with that patience and good temper
which are indispensable, especially in the instruction of the
very young. There was a girls’ branch to this establishment,
where we saw a large number of pupils busily engaged,
most of them on needle-work at the time of our visit. Some
pretty little specimens of the work were handed to us as
mementoes. In return I must do the girls of this school the
justice to say that, individually and collectively, they were
as pretty as their fellow-students of the normal school,
which is the highest compliment I can pay to the beauty
of schoolgirls in Japan.

Another deeply interesting educational establishment
which we visited the same day is a female school of
industry, where dancing-girls, geishas, and other such
young females can receive some elementary instruction, and
he taught the domestic arts which are necessary to wives
and mothers. Until this kind of institution was started,
this class of girls in Japan, and especially in great cities
like Kioto, were in a very unfortunate position. Highly
educated in the arts of dancing, singing, and waiting at
meals on men, their education in other respects was quite
neglected, and consequently the ordinary avocations of
respectable life, and especially of married life, were closed
to them, or open only under the gravest disadvantages.
They not unfrequently married well, I am told, hut they
were usually very unfit for their new duties in such cases.
Under the present regime of Japan, and with the greater

200

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

respect which is now becoming felt not only for the women
blit for the men also of the trading and poorer classes, the
neglect of this large class of young women and mere girls
has been so much deplored that schools of industry, ex-
pressly designed to fill up their spare time with instruction
in matters that wives and mothers should understand, have
been established in different parts of the city, and receive
the cheerful support and assistance of the government. We
found a number of geishas and dancing-girls busily occu-
pied, in the interval of their usual occupation, in receiving
instruction in elementary knowledge, and especially in the
use of the scissors and needle. The interest which is taken
in these institutions by the governor, from whom the pro-
posal to make the visit proceeded, is a good omen for their
permanent success, until superseded, let us hope, by a
wholly improved method of employing the maidens of Japan.

On the evening of this day we had the honour of dining
at the palace of the chief priest of the Eastern Church
(Buddhist, Shinshu sect), wdiose invitation, conveyed through
his eldest son, had reached us some days previously at Osaka.
Those who know the state of things that existed some years
ago will alone know how to duly estimate this invitation. The
chief priest (or archbishop) was himself at a distant part of
his diocese, and the duty of entertaining his excellency the
minister of marine and our party devolved upon his sons,
who performed it with a cordiality and kindness not to he
surpassed. In view of the desire I had shown to visit the
temples, it was part of the programme of the afternoon or
evening that we should first inspect the temple of our hosts,
Higashi Honganji, where we were received by them, and
conducted to an apartment in which tea and sweetmeats
were served. We were then taken to the shrine-temjile, and
went carefully through it. It is not one of any great
importance, being hut a temporary edifice erected to take
the place for a time of the splendid structure which was
burnt down during the fighting between the troops of the
Mikado and those of the Tycoon in 18G8. The original
temple was built by the chief priest Kionin Shonin, two

CHAP. IX.]

KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

201

hundred and seventy-six years ago. In one of the shrines
is the god Amita, and in another the image of Kionin Shonin,
carved by himself. In the year 1876 a.d. the high title of
Kenshindaishi was given to Shiriran Shonin, the founder of
the Shinshu sect, of which, as I have said, our absent host
is the eastern metropolitan.

To reach Kikokute, the palace of the archbishop, we made
use of our jinriki-shas, and after again refreshing our jaded
selves with tea, strolled into a large and beautiful garden,
where, gay with bright flags and curtains, lay at the hank
of a lake a fine large barge, carpeted and cushioned, and
provided with tea, fruit, cakes, cigars, cigarettes, and other
comforts suited to our exhausted condition ! Lest we should
require something before actually embarking, an elegant
lake-house standing out over the water was bountifully
provided with similar necessities — such was the forethought
and over-abundant hospitality of our entertainers. The warm
atmosphere, the coloured light of the evening, the repose
of the lake, the beauty of the islands in it and of the banks
beyond, the alluring ease which the boat offered, and that
desire to get afloat which ever besets the Englishman, all
combined towards one end, and we were speedily gliding-
over the crystal calm. There were on the island and banks
many objects to attract the eye and gently interest the
mind. There was, for example, an old stone pagoda-like
monument or To ; it was very low down, and partly submerged,
but it was to the memory of a great name, no other than
that of Kawarano, Sadaijin, a minister who flourished between
seven and eight hundred years ago. There were also some
very curious old stone lanterns, which, with their quaint
sculpturings of sun and moon and other devices, are always
pleasing to look at. There were likewise fine old trees-, with
their roots half out of the earth, and their shining summits
steeped in the coloured sun. All about the place were large
bronze cranes, which, although found to be bronze on suffi-
cient inspection, at each new appearance seemed to be on
their way from somewhere to somewhere else. AVe landed
on the island, and stood upon the site of an old tea-house,

202

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

now burnt down, but which till then had been notable for
its ceiling of spears, brought from the battle of Sedsa-
gatake, at which seven of the great Taiko’s troops so much
distinguished themselves with spears. Ke-embarking, we
remained upon the lake till the sun went down behind the
hills and began deepening its colours and preparing for the
splendid end. Then we landed, and, having still a few
minutes to while away, spent them, boy-like, in racing, leap-
ing, and other preparations for dinner. And what a dinner !
Although served on a table, it was (by particular desire)
Japanese in its character ; it proved to be Japanese, too, in its
profusion. I must admit that on this occasion again I was
not happy in the use of my chop-sticks, but resolutely I played
them, to the exclusion of the knife and fork, though these
were provided. Making every allowance for the superior
enjoyment which a travelling Englishman would be sure to
experience at the table of a Buddhist archbishop in his own
palace, whatever the dinner might be, I must maintain that
we dined in a manner more than worthy of the occasion—
with all due deference to the minister present, be it said. I
could not possibly have dined better at my club in St.
James’s (and I am homely enough to prefer my dinner there
to any which the cafes of Paris or the trahtirs of Eussia
produce), although it is true that one has at home to dis-
pense with raw fish and seaweed, and other like luxuries of
the East. But a choice and lavish banquet was not the
only source of enjoyment provided for us. A series of
musical and dramatic performances — very much more than
we mean by dances, though called by that name — were per-
formed throughout the dinner, by performers of the highest
class known to Japan. The strange but obviously masterly
singing, instrumental music, and pantomimic action of the
various artists, coupled with the splendour and w^onder of
their costumes, were to me so interesting that I frequently
found myself giving more attention to them than to my own
performances with the chop-sticks or the salie cup, a lapse

* See vol. i. p. 197.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTEBN CAPITAL.

203

which, I hope, was forgiven me by my hosts, and will be
by my readers. The so-called dances presented were the
following, which may possibly be familiar to some, viz. —
1. Motchiduki ; 2. Isigami ; 3. Suminuri ; 4. Tsutchigumo ;
5. Wtsubosaru. I confess that these names have not a
familiar appearance to my own eye, but others may be more
fortunate, and better versed in the drama of Japan.

During the dinner another surprise was prepared for us
in the form of a brilliant illumination with coloured lanterns
of the lake and gardens. A prettier sight of the kind could
not well be anywhere produced. After the dinner and the
dances came some of the renowned jugglers of Japan, of
whom one very old, very stout, very testy, and very clever
representative achieved great distinction, and received great
applause. I shall only name one or two of his successes.
One was the taking of a small glass globe, about four inches
in diameter, and putting a little water into it, and then,
without any means that we could see or divine, causing this
globe first to become full, and then to play like a fountain,
which rose and fell at his command, or as he played upon it
with his fan. He also caused the water apparently to play
upwards from the bowl through his fan, through any part of
it as he pleased, and also to assume various inclined direc-
tions, and, in a word, to do whatever he desired. Another
of his tricks was to produce a number of paper lanterns,
complete, with candles and suspension loops, from a bowl of
water, and to cause them to become lighted when he pleased
after they had passed from his hand and had been hung
up at a distance of several feet from him. One of them
would not light, being, he said, too wet ; but after a few
minutes had elapsed, he commanded it to become lighted, and
it instantaneously became so. At this dinner, as at that at
Osaka, the great compliment of placing before an honoured
guest a large stand of artificial plants and flowers was again
paid. On this occasion the principal figures represented
figures dressed in old Japanese costumes, and there was also
a fine vase, many beautiful flowers, and other ornaments.
The whole of these were cut out of the long turnips of the

204

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

country, and very cleverly coloured. I find that one may
always expect in such picture-models to find the pine, the
bamboo, and the plum-tree represented, as they were in
this instance. After rising from the table, we devoted our-
selves to the examination and enjoyment of the many works
of art about us, including rare hooks and scrolls of drawings,
some of great age and rarity, and others more modern, hut
of marked merit. After taking leave of our liberal and court-
eous entertainers, we took our departure amidst a blaze of
lanterns and basket-torches, and through a crowd of spec-
tators, who were hut ill-rewarded, I fear, for their patient
waiting. I heard afterwards that the preparations for this
afternoon and evening’s proceedings were much greater than
appeared even to a careful observer, including a new floor for
the dances, and other works requiring time and arrangement.
The whole affair was entirely novel in the palace of a
Buddhist archbishop, and must certainly have been due to
something lying very much beyond any claims to considera-
tion which even generous friends may credit me with, and
hut for the post of honour being assigned to myself I should
have concluded that Japanese archbishops pay wonderful
respect to their ministers of the crown.

Our next day at the sacred city (Thursday, -27th of February)
was commenced by an exceedingly pleasant little expedition
to the beautiful village of Arashiyama, and by an ascent up
the still more beautiful river beyond it. The hospitable
governor of Kioto had caused all necessary arrangements to
be made for carrying out the trip promptly, and at half
past nine we started, a train of a dozen jinrild-slias, to the
western part of the city, and beyond, through the garden —
for it practically is a vast garden — which stretches away to
the hills. Our road lay along a small canal, fed by the
mountain streams, and floating scores of boats laden with
the produce of the upper lands, chiefly consisting of wood,
either in its natural state or in the form of charcoal. Owing
to a police officer in n jinriJci-sha going a little ahead of the
party to clear the road — a necessity where the roads are
narrow and without footpaths, and where even jinriki-shas

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTEllN CAPITAL.

205

might do much mischief to children and others if no such
precautions were taken — the whole population of the city
and the villages turned out to view the transit of the tra-
vellers, and thus, here as elsewhere, afforded us an excellent
opportunity of seeing them, and observing all their differ-
ences of physical aspect, costume, relative cleanliness, and
so forth. And here I may remark that, from the same
cause, no doubt, we had continual opportunities of seeing
the people, and as our route usually lay along fresh lines of
thoroughfare, we must have had a passing glance of most of
the population of the city and suburbs. And very great
differences were observable, more particularly on this occa-
sion, when the people of some of the villages appeared in
several respects so different from those of others as to
suggest, if not a difference of race, at least very marked
results of some form of exclusive intermarriage, either on a
small or a large scale. After a short drive — if one may
call that a drive in which there is no driving to be done,
the drawing being done by a man, and therefore in some
important respects an equal — we passed through the busy
forest-fed village of Udzumasa, and soon afterwards reached
Arashiyama, on the hanks of the beautiful Oigawa, and
alighted at one of its three well-known tea-houses. From
the balconies of this house we obtained fine views of the
upper river, and of the high and richly wooded hills beyond.
The trees are chiefly cherry * and red maple, and when the
former are in flower, in April, the mountain-side is said to
present, and doubtless does present, such vast masses of
fragrant pink blossoms that the people of Kioto are attracted
out in large numbers to t?ie place. In front of the village
the river spreads out into broad shallows, with contractions
of the bed in places, forming small rapids, down which boats
and rafts were frequently gliding, and up which the boats
were poled or punted with considerable skill. Large light
boats (formed of planks 1 J inches thick, placed edge to edge.

* The Japanese cherry-tree differs beauty, colour, and odour of its
from ours, and is cultivated for the blossoms.

206

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

fastened by sunk nails, and caulked like the Japanese j links,
witli a fibre that swells in water) were prepared for ns, as
usual with tea, cigarettes, and other necessaries of life,
and a number of local fishermen laid out their nets around a
deep place, to exhibit the system of fishing there pursued.
By stretching a net with sinkers across part of the stream,
from the surface to the bottom, the ends bein^ carried
higher up stream than the middle, and by then stretching
from these ends another such, but shorter, net, the boats
and fishermen were inclosed, and the fish with them. The
water being singularly pure and clear, the fish were then
looked for, and when seen had a light hand-net thrown
dexterously over them. Men, stripped for the purpose, then
dived after the entangled fish, and brought them to the
surface.

Our boat was soon afterwards taken in tow by three men,
each with his own long and very light tow-line separately
attached to her, a man at each end with a pole guiding our
course, and away we went up the river, which almost imme-
diately began to contract, and to pour down against us over
a bed of immense rocks and boulders, and through channels
so narrow that it seemed scarcely possible for our boat
to pass. However, as we drew but about seven inches of
water with twelve of us on board, on we went, smoothly
gliding along the smoother places, and lifting up our bows
and fairly climbing up the steep and rushing waters when
the necessity was forced upon us. In some places the boat
was but a few inches narrower than the channel, even in the
steeper parts, and at others a way for boats had only been
obtained by the building of a sort of loose canal wall in the
stream at a boat’s width from the shore. The day was fine
and warm ; the river pure and full of refreshing sounds ;
our tow-ers swift, our steersmen alert ; and nothing was
wiinting to the success of the governor's kindly devised
excursion. If any other excitement had been needed, it
might have been drawn from one of the prettiest pieces of
mountain sport that I have ever seen, which occurred before
we turned our boat for the descent. High over our heads

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

207

four red deer came bounding from the forest, and hurrying
down streamwards as fast as their occasional bewilderment
and hesitation would allow them. Presently, still higher
above us, appeared the sportsmen, who saw their game hut
could not fire without running the risk of bringing down in
our boat the first man of their own city, and a few others of
less importance (his excellency was not with us), but still
valued, doubtless, by some one or another. They therefore
generously refrained for the time from what must have been
a great temptation, seeing that even in England itself
friends far too frequently get so eager after a partridge or a
hare as to shoot each other’s eyes out. The deer, however,
seemed so little disposed to spoil sport that they made the
best of their way toward the guns, and after a third dis-
charge one of the herd came rolling down the hillside. It
was brought to us for inspection later in the day (with the
path of a bullet through its poor little innocent heart), and
subsequently passed through the kitchen on its way to our
table, and probably now is, more or less, a part of the brain
that thinks and the hand that writes this.* The Oigawa
Piiver is as unlike the Thames as it could possibly be, but
its wooded banks, or rather the wooded hills above them,
are in places suggestive of the Thames at Maidenhead,
only bcJth sides of the river are equally fine, and the hills
are continuous as far up as we went. The governor in-
formed me that he frequently has to ascend the Oigawa
to a place 8 miles above Arashiyama, and that it can be
ascended for 20 miles from that village. On our way we
passed several boats and trains of boats, shooting the
rapids and sliding swiftly towards the city, and after a
while our own boat was turned, and we commenced the
descent in like manner. It was a repetition in miniature of
the descent of the rapids on the St. Lawrence made six
months before, and required as much knowledge and skill
on the part of our pilots as is possessed by the old Indian
who boards the Montreal boat for a like purpose, and settles

* This passage was written, of course, a few days afterwards.

208

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

down quietly and proudly to his task though devoid now of
his feathers and painted splendours. In many places the
thin bottom of the boat was lifted into a series of waves by
dragging over the rocks, hut suffered little from it. A little
further fishing with lighter nets on a different system on
the Arashiyama hank completed our river experiences.

A mile and a half’s drive after landing, along the wooded
bases of the hills, brought us to the Shinto temple of Mat-
suno Jinsha, which is one of the largest of those which the
imperial government support pecuniarily. It is a very fine
temple and beautifully situated, close to the foot of a
wooded hill. It was founded nearly twelve hundred years
ago by the order of Mommu-Tenno,who reigned from 697
A.D. to 707, but it has been thoroughly repaired four times :
the present buildings are three hundred and thirty-two
years old. It has three shrines, but only one god, Oyamaku,
and one goddess, with the interesting name of Ichikishima-
himeno-mikoto, which being interpreted means, I am told,
that she was the princess Ichikishima, and belonged to the
imperial family of the Mikado. The temple bore marks of
its association with the imperial family in the form of drapery
bearing the imperial crest, and of a pair of Korean dogs (or
lions, as some people call them, with little fear of being
proved wrong) in front of the principal altar.

Our drives and our river expedition having occupied some
hours, and stimulated us with plenty of fresh air, our
thoughts involuntarily began to turn towards our physical
refreshment, and I was not surprised to learn that this formed
the next part of the programme of our thoughtful hosts.
I was surprised, however, and delighted at the arrangements
which displayed themselves, when after another drive —
during which we passed a large government paper-manu-
factory and a macaroni-making establishment, both attracted
by the purity of the water — we alighted atKatsuranogobesso,*
the country seat of one of the members of the imperial
family, where luncheon was spread in an open room, with

* This palace was built by the great Taiko for the prince of Hatchijouomiya.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

209

one of the most beautiful gardens that I have seen lying
steeped in sun and silence. The palace floor had been
covered with carpets and rugs of Kioto manufacture, and
furnished European fashion for the occasion, the table de-
corated with beautiful plants and flowers, while a boat hung
with flags awaited us on the lake, and in a lake-house screened
by trees a band of men-musicians discoursed the sweet strains
of Japan, so that all that man and Nature could together do
to make things pleasant had been done. Luncheon com-
menced, the band struck up ‘ Great Feast,’ followed by
‘ Great Peace,’ ‘ See the Conqueror marching back to his
Castle,’ ‘ Long live the Son,’ and other Japanese airs, some
of which appeared to me to approach much more nearly to
European music than any I had before heard. In ‘ Great
Peace ’ I was reminded of quiet passages in the ‘ Pastoral
Symphony ’ of Beethoven. During the tiffin, the suscepti-
bilities of my son and myself were a little shocked by one
of the attentions shown us, which consisted in serving alive
a large fish taken in the morning, one side of it being almost
entirely carved to pieces ; but the carving so done — this
being the proof of skill in the artist — that the fish was still
quite alive, and had, it seemed, a reproachful look in its
moving eye as it was handed round. I know that it is idle
to attempt so to live as

Never to blend our pleasure or our pride

With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels,”

for we are continually inflicting sorrow upon something or
somebody, and far too often upon some of the nobler “ things
that feel ; ” but let us hope that we avoid this as often as
possible. At any rate, I was obliged to excuse myself from
sharing in the delicacy so much appreciated by some of the
party. In a little conversation which followed, I was re-
minded of our own mode of slaughtering calves and other-
wise torturing animals, and had recalled to my recollection
the fact that until the civilising influences of Europe reached
Japan, and up to fifteen years ago, the slaughtering of oxen,
either old or young, was forbidden there, and considered to

VOL. II.

210

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

be brutal. After lunclieon, the governor did me the honour
of giving my health, and we then adjourned to the lovely
gardens, where for some time we gave close attention to the
music, and the instruments for producing it. A trip on
the lake concluded the entertainments of this very delightful
place.

We now drove to the great Toji temple, which is the chief
temple in Japan of the Shingon sect of Buddhists, founded
by the illustrious Kobo-daishi. It is sometimes known as
Kiyoo Gokokuji, and was first built ten hundred and eighty-
two years ago, by order of Kuwammu-Tenno (782-805 a.d.).
The principal buildings are as follows : 1 . Sai-in, which was
originally the dwelling-house of Kobo, where hangs a likeness
of himself. It was last rebuilt five hundred years ago. Here
is Bishamon, one of the seven gods of wealth. 2. Jokido,
with a Kwannon of a thousand hands, over one thousand years
old, attended by four guardians of less age. Over this god-
dess there is painted on the ceiling an immense and splendid
dragon, in black and white, executed sixty years ago by an
artist, who received 200 yen, say £40, for drawing it. The
priest who kindly received us and showed us through the
temple smiled as he communicated this last piece of informa-
tion, but whether at the munificence or insignificance of the
sum I know not. In this building, if I remember rightly, there
was a large collection of gods and lanterns, and other works
of art from other temples, and among them an exceedingly
clever group of three monkeys, one closing his eyes, another
his ears, and another his mouth, with his hands in each case,
possibly suggestive of things which so intelligent an animal
thought it well to avoid seeing, hearing, or speaking of.
We afterwards found this group to be 'popular and oft-
repeated in Japan. It must not be taken as unkind if I
remark that the gods do not improve in appearance or dignity
on being jumbled together in a crowd as they are here;
give one a shrine to himself, cover him with a curtain but
seldom opened, keep the people at a little distance from him,
set him in a dim religious light if seen at all, endow him
with great age, and treat him with a fair amount of reverence

CHAP. IX.]

KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

211

and ceremony, and he must be a very poor image indeed if
he does not answer the only purpose for which, so the priest
positively assured me, he is ever intended, ^viz. that of re-
minding us of one whom we cannot see in person, and whom
it is most necessary to remember. 3. Kodo, where are to be
seen five large statues, and also a superb set of four holy
guards, the latter produced by the great Kobo-daishi himself.
It was not by any means by wood-carving that Koho-daishi
made his reputation and became the founder of a great and
powerful sect, hut these fine and vigorous works of his hands
indicate how great a force there was in the man. 4. Kondo,
wherein is another set of much smaller statues, about three
feet in height, but twelve in number, also carved by Koho-
daishi, and indicating the same wonderful power in the man
as an artist. 5. Toba, or the Pagoda, which is 18 feet square,
and 180 feet in height. The first pagoda was burnt down
two hundred and forty-six years ago, and the present
structure rebuilt by the Shogun lyemitsu. At present it
possesses hut a poor assortment of images. There are in
these Toji temples other more remarkable gods, including two
called Bouden, each with three heads and four arms ; but the
great charm of Toji to me — and it had a great charm — was
the fact of its standing, like so many other Japanese temples,
in a fine open wooded park, where the people cannot come
without benefit, and which supplies liberally that free
breathing-space which our cities and towns at home so often
need. I wonder whether the time will ever come again when
religious sects in our country will contrive to minister to the
minds and souls of the people in temples round which the
open air of heaven can freely circulate, and where in the
shade of trees, and with the conveniences of life provided,
they can be made to feel that religious worship can be asso-
ciated with a noble regard for body and soul alike ! At
any rate, I feel grateful to the priests and demi-gods and
Mikados and Tycoons of this country that they have not
made prisons of their temples, but have liberally secured
for the crowded people the blessings of air and light, and
all the other blessings which attend them.

p 2

212

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

I must admit, however, that life has not always been, and
may not always remain, couleur de rose even at the Toji
temples. The storms of war have ravaged them too often,
and nine hundred years ago some of them were shaken down
by an earthquake, together with other temples, and a few
palaces in Kioto, no less than fifty precious priests being
crushed into utter inutility in one temple alone.

From the Toji temples we drove by appointment to the
great Shinshu temple of Nishi-Honganji, at which the
archbishop of the Western Church had previously invited our
party to share his hospitality. This is a famous and splendid
temple, and a cordial invitation from the head of the
(western) Shinshu faith to dine there was one which could
not be other than welcome to a stranger like myself desirous
of seeing the inner life of the country. Our reception and
entertainment were in every way worthy of our host, who,
with his brother, spared no pains to make us welcome and
happy. At the entrance-door of the temple-palace we were
received by the brother of the chief priest, who, after
conducting and introducing us to his eminence, if I may so
call him, and offering refreshments, conducted us through
the temples, and then to a garden and a house which was
formerly the summer residence of the great Taiko (Hideyoshi),
with reminiscences of whom the place abounded. Here the
chief priest, a man comparatively young, and of handsome
presence — whose office, by-the-by, is hereditary — ^joined us
and went with us over the place. The house was perfumed
with sweet-smelling incense, and in one of the rooms the
art of burning it ceremonially was shown in detail, and
with various woods producing different odours, it being
explained that one of the modes of amusing the guests of
priests when time has to be past is to produce different
scents, and set the guests guessing the wood from which it
was produced — a pastime obviously requiring, for its suc-
cessful pursuit, some experience of temple life and incense-
burning. There was no time in the present instance to
study this mode of amusement, nor even to see the ceremonial
system of burning the incense fully carried out, hut what

cirAP. IX.] KIOTO, TEE WESTEBN CAPITAL.

213

we saw sufficed to show how pleasant a pastime the produc-
tion of sweet-scented incense may he made. In the same
room was shown another and more artistic form of pastime,
a very pretty landscape with sea, formed in a tray with
coloured sands, a piece of greystone that had belonged to
Yoshimasa being employed as a rock or mountain in the
model. In a tea-room was a letter written by the Taiko to
an ancestor of our host, himself a chief priest of the sect
and temple in Taiko’s day. In one of the windows was
Taiko’s crest, formed by the mere cutting of the crest
through a wood panel, showing the crest in light. We
ascended a tower in this building known as Taiko’s Tower,
which had served as his private study, and in which he had,
with great ability and ingenuity, painted a picture in gold
dust, so laid on and placed with regard to the light that
it was impossible for even the most privileged visitor to see
it without bowing himself almost to the ground, of course
in Taiko’s presence.

After a long stroll through the buildings and gardens, we
proceeded to the temple-palace, and there, in a very large
room, sat down to dinner, a dozen of the principal guests at
an upper cross table, our subordinate officers and attendants
at a separate table at some distance from the others. On
this occasion, as on the previous evening’s entertainment,
our hosts sat in the lowest seats at the main table, at two
short side- wings arranged for the purpose. We dined at a
table, sitting in chairs, but in all other respects the sumptuous
dinner was served Japanese fashion, as I had desired, and
included besides the usual luxuries some special ones, such
as choice portions of whale, etc. Our hosts were most kind
and considerate, occasionally leaving their seats and coming
to make inquiries, or to give information respecting the
dances. These were performed by the festival dancers of
the temple, and accompanied by the temple band and
singers— all men and boys. The dresses worn were those
used at the great ceremonials of the church, and were quite
wonderfully rich and imposing. The dances were also the
ceremonial dances of the church, most of them being derived

214

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

from India through China, hut others of them being purely
Japanese. Some which had been brought from China had
ceased to he performed there, and can only now he seen in
this temple. Although in China they were performed with
songs, it was found that the songs were not suited to Japan,
and consequently have never been used there. The first dance
represented the moA^ements of birds in a Buddhist temple
in India ; in the second, butterfiies were supposed to he
imitated, and this involved a certain amount of stepping
and posturing movements which reminded one of European
dances more than any previously seen in Japan — more espe-
cially of the preliminary movements of our ballet-dancers
before the frenzy sets in. The third dance was purely
J apanese, introduced seven hundred years ago, and performed
in the old military costume of the country, the headdresses
of which, with other parts, were the military fashion down to
the time of the revolution of 1868. Outside of the banquet-
hall, and visible through the far end of it, were large basket-
torches blazing, as is usual when the festival dances are
proceeding.

We had the very great advantage on this occasion of the
presence of a highly educated priest, Akamatz, who had
been to Europe to study and report on the religions of the
West, and who spoke English very well, haAung been two and
a half years in England. Ho took great pains to exj)lain in
a quiet Avay everything as it proceeded, slipping round from
his place at the side-wing of the table for this purpose as
often as it appeared to him desirable. It may he interesting
to some of my readers to learn that this excellent priest,
possessing a knowledge of England and the English, and
also the chief priest who was our host on this occasion,
find embraced in their section of the Buddhist faith all that
they consider good and true in the Christian religion, and
are not without hope of seeing England adopt this view, and
with it the tenets and practice of their faith, which they
consider most excellent.* It will he gratifying, doubtless.

See a pivvions notice of INIr. Akamatz, with a paper from bis pen, in
the chapter on Buddhism (vol. i. p. S4).

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

215

to the many good people at home who look upon Buddhists
as eligible for conversion to their particular views of the
Christian religion (whatever they may happen to be in each
case), to find their own generous and beneficent intentions
so entirely reciprocated. And this may be the proper place
to mention the figures given to me in connection with this,
the Shinshu sect of Buddhists of Japan. The eastern
branch of the Church has 10,000 temples and 4,500,000
believers ; the western branch has 4500 temples, and
2,000,000 believers. What is the exact force of the word
“ believers ” in this statement I do not know — any more
than I know what is meant when I hear of millions of
Christians in England. • For my part I am always charmed
to meet even a few people occasionally of whom it may in
truth be said that they remotely approximate to one’s idea
of what a Christian professes and undertakes to be. But I
know not where are to he found the millions of “ the poor in
spirit,” the “ meek,” “ they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness,” the “ merciful,” the “ pure in heart,” the
“ peacemakers,” and the others upon whom the author of
Christianity pronounced his benedictions, and to whom he
promised “ the kingdom of heaven.” However, there are
perhaps many more likely to receive these rewards than
some among us are willing to believe, and that is a great
satisfaction.

In the course of the evening I ventured to ask the chief
priest to favour me with an autograph writing from his
hand — a thing very difficult indeed to obtain, as I after-
wards learnt. He was good enough to comply, and wrote
on ornamental paper a sentiment in favour of religious
comprehensiveness.

At this banquet, as at former ones, the honour was done
us of placing before us, towards the end of the dinner, a
large and finely coloured model picture, wrought out of
perishable materials — the large turnip, or radish, daihon.
In this case also it was decorated additionally with flowers
and other ornaments, which it was expected would be carried
away by ourselves and other guests. At the conclusion some

216

[chap. IX.

JAPAN.

time was spent in examining drawings, lacqner-ware, and
other works of art of a choice kind. We afterwards took our
leave, and drove away through the torches and the lanterns
and the crowd waiting outside, and by the time we reached
our lodgings we felt — and I hope my readers will admit —
that into this day, at least, a fair amount of pleasure, sight-
seeing, travelling, and excitement had been compressed.

The following day, quite early, our host of the previous
evening called at our residence to inquire after our well-
being, and to offer as a present — for the smallness of which
he made excuses — two specimens of the Kioto silk-manu-
facture : so that courtesy and kindness were carried to their
full lengths by him in this case. In return he requested
cartes de visits^ and a piece of writing of my own composition,
and I accordingly wrote out for him a few verses of a poem
which I had amused myself by composing in ih.e jinrihi-slia
on the previous day — a long drive through a pleasant
country in a small carriage in which you necessarily sit
alone being very favourable, as already hinted, to literary
composition of the compressed kind, which poetry should of
course he. The subject of the verses, if I remember rightly,
was an attempt to reconcile the omnipotence of a god of
love with the manifold injuries done to man by the forces of
nature, and with the existence of so many creatures of prey ;
for, as Tennyson says in ‘ Maud ’ —

“Nature is one with rapine, a harm no preacher can heal;

The May-fly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow spear’d by the
shrike.

And the whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder and
prey.”

Nor was the subject other than strictly appropriate to
one mixing intimately, as I then was, with the ministers
and followers of the gentle Siddartha (Buddha), whose soul
was so deeply moved by the same problem : —

“Then marked he, too.

How lizard fed on ant, and snake on him;

And kite on both ; and how the fish-hawk robbed
Tlie fish-tiger of that which it had seized;

CHAP. IX.J

KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

217

The shrike chasing the bulbul, which did chase
The jewelled butterflies; till everywhere
Each slew a slayer and in turn was slain,

Life living upon death. So the fair show
Veiled one vast, savage, grim conspiracy
Of mutual murder, from the worm to man.

Who himself kills his fellow. . . .

The Prince Siddartha sighed : ‘ Is this,’ he said,

‘That happy earth they brought me forth to see?

How salt with sweat the peasant’s bread ! How hard

The oxen’s service! In the brake how tierce

The war of weak and strong 1 i’ th’ air what plots !

No refuge e’en in water. Go aside
A space, and let me muse on what ye show.’

So saying, the good Lord Buddha seated him
Under a jambu-tree, with ankles crossed —

As holy statues sit — and tirst began
To meditate this deep disease of life.

What its far source, and whence its remedy.

So vast a pity tilled him, such wide love
For living things, such passion to heal pain.

That by their stress his princely spirit passed
To ecstasy.”*

After the departure of his eminence we drove to an
exhibition which is in course of formation at Kioto, in a
palace formerly occupied by the mother of the Mikado. On
our way we drove past and through the grounds of several
palaces that had been abandoned by members of his majesty’s
family and by nobles since the transfer of the capital to
Tokio. In one of these a permanent museum is to he built,
and also a permanent exhibition building — illustrations of
the great change which has passed and is passing over this
land under the new system, of the best features of which
the Mikado is the warmest supporter, I am told. There
is in the part-formed exhibition at present chiefly articles
of historic interest : among them, banners taken from the
Koreans by the army of Taiko, dresses that had belonged to
Taiko, writings on linen by the learned priest Kobo-daishi
(who died ten centuries and a half ago), and articles brought
by him from China, very old Japanese brocaded silks and

* E. Arnold’s beautiful ‘ Light of Asia,’ pp. 20-22.

218

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

embroidery, old Dutch tapestry, a cup from which an attend-
ant of Taiko’s son heroically drank a poisoned draught
intended for his master,* a fan richly ornamented with
pearls presented to Taiko by the king of Korea, two fans
eleven hundred years old that had belonged to Shotoku-
taishi, and a superb collection of old swords.

We next went to inspect in the same neighbourhood the
carriage in which his majesty the Mikado used to move
about on state occasions. It was a very large and heavy
carriage, effectually shut in all round by close screen-work
when in use, and drawn by an ox and by men together.
Fortunately for the Mikado, he was not often required to
avail himself of this mode of travelling, as he was so seldom
allowed to leave his palace grounds. There was a similar
carriage hard by. Our next visit was to a very long building
containing an immense collection of old Chinese and Japanese
drawings, and books brought together from the temples of
Japan for permanent exhibition, including some portraits of
large size brought over nearly eleven centuries ago from
China. Among the books were histories and records of the
greatest literary value, and the whole place appeared to me
to be an immense mine of historic and artistic wealth, in
which, doubtless, when it is made public, learned men will
delve and toil with all that industry which they are known
to bring to such work.

From these treasures we proceeded to the local govern-
ment college, where the governor met us and accompanied
us through the class-rooms. We spent some time in attend-
ing to the different lessons in progress, and were, with a
single exception, much gratified with the tone and method
with which the lessons were given, and with the obviously
good relations between the teacher and pupil. This relation
has always existed, I believe, in Japan, and is one of the
things that one would regret to see changed. “ The jDro-
fessors and teachers were held in the greatest reverence, and

* This rough old cup was pur- and seut two servants of his owu to
chased for live thousaud dollars by permanently guaid it.
a prince, who presented it to a temple

Origin of the Kake-Mono, or Hanging Picture.

From Hokusai. Reproduced for this Work by a Japanese Engraver.

To Jace page 218, Vol. II.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

219

it was deemed the gravest offence for the scholars to show
their impatience or their lack of interest by yawning,
lounging, or moving their positions. Perhaps to this early
severe training, carried on through many generations, are
due that wonderful imperturbability of temper and that
courtesy of manner which characterise the higher classes of
Japan.” * One of the students of the college, in the second
class, declaimed from memory a portion of Grattan’s “ Eulogy
on William Pitt,” with marked ability, and with hut few
departures from the pronunciation and accent with which a
well-educated youth in England would have delivered it,
while his emphasis was throughout strikingly good.j Our
next visit was to the mute and blind asylum for children,
through the classes of which we w^ent, not I trust without

* ‘ Outline History of Japanese
Education,’ prepared for Philadelphia
Exhibition by the Japanese Depart-
ment of Education.

t I requested the young gentle-
man to write out and send me the
quotation ; and I received from him,
a few hours afterwards, a well-written
note inclosing a clean and correct
copy of the extract. His note ran:
“ To the Hon. Mr. Keecl, M.P. Here-
with please receive a copy of the
extract from Grattan’s Eulogy on
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, which
you were so kind as to notice and
request after my poor attempt at
declaiming the same. I have the
honour to subscribe myself, with high
respect, yours sincerely, Y. Yoshioka.
Kioto Chin Gakko, 28, 2, ’79. P.S.
— My age ” (for which I had asked)
“ is sixteen years. — Y. Y.” The first
part of the piece recited was as fol-
lows; I give it for the purpose of
showing that in forcibly declaiming
such a strain of eloquence the student
exhibited a very close acquaintance
with both the solid and the rhetorical
uses of our language : “ The secretary
stood alone. Modern degeneracy

had not reached him. Original and
unaccommodating, the features of his
character had the hardihood of anti-
quity; his august mind overawed
majesty ; and one of his sovereigns
thought royalty so impaired in his
presence, that he conspired to remove
him in order to be relieved from his
superiority. No state chicanery, no
narrow systems of vicious politics, no
idle contest for ministerial victories,
sank him to the vulgar level of the
great ; but overbearing, persuasive,
and impracticable, his object was
England. Without dividing, he de-
stroyed party ; without corrupting,
he made a venal age unanimous.
France sank beneath him ; with one
hand he smote the house of Bourbon,
and wielded in- the other the demo-
cracy of England. Tire sight of his
mind was infinite, and his schemes
were to aflect, not England, not the
present age only, but Europe and
posterity. Wonderful were the means
by which these schemes were accom-
plished, always reasonable, always
adequate, the suggestions of an un-
derstanding animated by ardour and
enlightened by foresight.”

220

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

compassion for the many little sufferers whose efforts to
reach by painful labours those elements of knowledge and of
pleasure which most of us acquired so easily were but too
pitiable. So far as I could judge, the systems of instruction
j)ursued were like those employed in Europe, many of the
materials differing greatly of course from ours, owing to the
great difference in the character of the letters and other
symbols employed. This visit concluded our morning’s
round.

In the afternoon we visited some of the small porcelain
works of Kioto on the hill at the south-east of the town.
The articles produced are much admired, but as no special
orders were at the time under execution, there was little to
be seen of an exceptional kind. Thence we proceeded on
foot to the temple of Kiyomidzu (Clear- water Temple), from
the front of which is afforded a fine view of the country
south and west of Kioto, showing the great military import-
ance of the road stretching away to Osaka, and accounting
for the prolonged and bloody struggles that have there
taken place between armies contending for the mastery of
what then was the Mikado’s capital. It was at this temple,
and with this view before him, that the famous Taiko
Hideyoshi, whom one has so often to mention, was once
sitting, with his brain teeming with plans for the conquest
of Korea and China, and his heart sad because of the loss of
a child borne to him by his favourite wife. But Mr. Griffis
shall tell the romantic story for us : “ One day he went
out to a temple, Kiyomidzu, in Kioto, to beguile the sad
hours. Lost in thought, in looking over the western sky
beyond the mountains, he suddenly exclaimed to his attend-
ant, ‘A great man ought to employ his army beyond ten
thousand miles, and not give way to sorrow.’ Eeturning to
his house, he assembled his generals, and fired their enthu-
siasm by recounting their exploits mutually achieved. He
then promised to march to Peking, and divide the soil of
China in fiefs among them. They unanimously agreed, and
departed to the various provinces to prepare troops and
materials. Hideyoshi himself went to Kiushiu. On his

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTEEN CAPITAL.

221

way some one suggested that scholars versed in Chinese
should accompany the expedition. Hideyoshi laughed, and
said, ‘ This expedition will make the Chinese use our litera-
ture.’ After worshipping at a shrine, he threw up a handful
of one hundred cash in front of the shrine, and said, ‘ If I am
to conquer China, let the heads show it.’ The Japanese
copper and iron zeni, or has, have Chinese characters repre-
senting the chronological period of coinage on one side, and
waves representing their circulation as money on the reverse.
The lettered side is ‘ head,’ the reverse is ‘ tail.’ All the
coins which the Taiko flung up came down heads. The
soldiers were delighted with the omen. Maps of Korea
were distributed among the commanders of the eight
divisions, and the plan of the expedition and their co-
operation explained.” Hideyoshi’s generals — for he gave
up the idea of going himself — were very successful at first
in Korea, killing ten thousand men in one battle, and
pickling their twenty thousand ears to preserve them as
trophies ; but they had eventually to fall hack, and to return
home (as previously narrated), so that nothing came in the
end of Hideyoshi’s outrage upon the Koreans, and he died
soon afterwards. I can hardly understand the state of mind
of a man upon whom the beautiful and peaceful view from
the front of the temple of Kiyomidzu can have had the
effect which it had upon him ; for my part, I felt as little
disposed as I ever felt in my life to murder people even
individually, much less by tens of thousands, when standing
on the same spot, and I am very sorry Hideyoshi did not
stop at home and amuse his generals with the invisible
picture in his summer-house which I have previously men-
tioned, instead of going up there and fretting himself into
a day-dream of ambition and conquest.

It is not only in front that the temple of Kiyomidzu
presents a fine view, for at the hack of it is a grand wooded
amphitheatre, with a three-stream waterfall dropping veil-
like through it. It has two pagodas, one of them small
and one large. There is also a ten-leaved To, or square
stone pillar cut into horizontal leaves, and good people,

222

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

desiring to become better, or to get something which they
want, throw stones and endeavour to make them lodge upon
the To, they whose stones lodge getting what they want, or
persuading themselves that they will get it, which amounts
to nearly the same thing. The temple is reached by a long
flight of steps, and the gate is guarded by gatekeepers, as
is so frequently the case with Buddhist temples.

A descent south-westward, through a bamboo-plantation,
and past the houses of some of the very poor people (small
tanners, I think they were, and tanners have been held in
so little esteem in Japan that in measuring road-distances
the length of a town occupied by them has been omitted
altogether as not existing"*") brought us to the fine Shinshu
temple of Nishi-Otani, which is under the control of the
archbishop with whom we had dined the previous evening,
and where the friendly priest Akamatz was good enough
to receive us. Otani, I may say in passing, is the family
name of the archbishop, and this temple contains many
memorials of his ancestors. It is approached by a bridge of
a peculiar construction, having two arches, each of which
is a complete circle, so that it has become known as the
“ spectacle bridge.” Nishi-Otani is allowed the privilege
of employing the crest of the Mikado, which accordingly
appears frequently in the construction and decoration of the
temple. Besides the beauty of the temple itself, and its
furnishings, there were several objects of interest; among
them, some carvings of figures which had ornamented
the vessels of the Taiko’s Korean expedition; some very
fine drawings of Japanese sea-dragons, and screens painted
by Okio.

On the evening of this day the governor was so good
as to arrange for our after-dinner entertainment a series
of national dances, performed by a select but large number
(at times) of the pretty dancers of Kioto. Before pro-
ceeding to the place of entertainment he presented me with

* This is also tlie case sometimes— or used to be — where roads traverse
certain battle-fields.

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL

223

an album of beautiful photographs of the once sacred city
and its charming environs — a souvenir which I shall always
highly value. I cannot describe, at length, the dances,
although they were all more or less dramatic ; but they
served to illustrate and make clear many things that would
be unintelligible in Japan, and especially in Japanese art,
without their aid, more particularly as regards costumes
and attitudes, which, while surviving in the various fine arts
of the country, are now to be actually seen only in these
dances. The principal compliment paid this evening was
towards the end of the entertainment, when the professional
dancing-girls gave way to a large number of young ladies
of the place, whose parents had most kindly allowed them
to attend for the purpose, and who danced with such in-
dividual and combined skill as to greatly surprise us. The
orchestra consisted for the time of a dozen of these young
beauties, for such they were, and fully twenty more of them
advanced, not from behind the stage as with us, but from
the front, along the sides of the hall. They were richly
dressed in robes of the usual shape and size, but of black,
red, and gold — with marked differences, therefore, from the
dresses of the professional girls — and although it in some
respects resembled a ballet in Europe, the decorum of the
dances appeared to be quite perfect. At the conclusion,
they came and ranged themselves, by special desire, in front
of us, to give a nearer view of their pretty faces and
dresses, and I should be glad if I had the power of pre-
venting any part of their loveliness from decaying for many
a year to come.

The remainder of our spare time in Kioto was chiefly
spent in visiting silk- and c7im7ue?^-manufactories, dyeing-
houses, shops for the sale of porcelain, bronzes, etc., and in
strolling about the streets and witnessing the ways and
habits of the people, so far as the weather, which was
frequently wet and depressing, would admit. The perfection
to which the ornamentation of silk and cut-pile fabrics is
carried in Kioto, by embroidering, embossing, painting, and
dyeing processes, is very remarkable, as is the low price of

224

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

the many beautiful articles so produced. Some of the
processes were quite novel, hut they were shown to us
readily, and apparently without reserve. The same remarks
hold with respect to the beautiful Japanese chirimens and
crapes. It is a trying thing even for a man, and it would
be sheer torture for a lady, who has resolved not to spend
much money to visit these shops and establishments in
Kioto. To come away without putting yourself into
possession of a good supply of these materials, which are
always acceptable presents to ladies, is to develop, no doubt,
a pronounced form of self-denial ; hut it is likewise also to
subject yourself to reproach whenever afterwards you face
your wife or your lady friends ; ladies and their dress-
makers are so clever in turning these fabrics of every colour
and kind to pretty and picturesque account, and are so glad
to have the opportunity of doing so. A Kioto china-shop
is also an unpleasant j)lace for John Bull, or any represen-
tative of his ; the forms there given to teapots, cups, saucers,
and a thousand other things are so pretty and various, and
the colouring of them is so elegantly executed.

It is proper to say, how^ever, that a part of one of these
last days in Kioto was devoted to an inspection of another of
those schools for instructing geishas and dancing-girls in
needle-work and other useful matters to which I have
previously adverted, and his effective support of which does
the governor of Kioto so much honour. We also visited a
training-school in which the national arts of music, singing,
and dancing are taught. The business of this establish-
ment seemed to he conducted with great order and system,
and it was an interesting sight to pass through the little
class-rooms and observe the poor elderly creatures, com-
paratively speaking, whose days of grace and fascination
had for ever passed awvay from them, and who wnre now, as
they fondly supposed, teaching younger ones how to master
the mysteries of what was to themselves for evermore a lost
art. Alas ! the only instruction which they could possibly
give must have been of the most rudimentary and formal
kind ; but happily for the young ones, youth, and the

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL.

225

sagacities and instincts and inspirations of youth, could well
he left to teach the rest. Wherever men were employed in
teaching the young dancing-girls, they were invariably
either old or blind, and generally both, and dreadful-looking
into the bargain. If such a conjunction of beauty and
horror is a necessity, it is certainly a very sad one.

We also visited a school where the art of ceremonial tea-
making is taught. It is said that the practice of this art,
which I have frequently had occasion to mention before, was
originally established for the promotion of friendly relations
at a time when society was much torn by factions and by
war, and the spinning out of the time must certainly have
been part of the scheme. Time is so precious nowadays,
however, in Japan as elsewhere, that the ceremony is
usually much compressed, and in this modern form it is
pleasant enough. It is, however, declining, the peaceful
pursuit of manufactures, commerce, and arts furnishing
abundant opportunities for bringing people together in a
friendly way.

There are several places and things of interest in and near
Kioto which we had not time to visit. There is, for ex-
ample, the great Dai-butsu, which, however, being of wood,
and less ancient, is of greatly inferior interest to that of
Nara. I am sorry to say that the Dai-hutsu of Kioto is also
a somewhat degraded personage as compared with him of
Nara, for while both have been subjected to rough treat-
ment from the powers of nature, the Kioto one has had
to undergo the ill-usage of man likewise. It is sad to read*
that “ an earthquake took place on the fifth day fifth month
second year Saiko (855), and the head of the famous Dai-butsu
at Nara was thrown down but how much sadder to read
that not only did the great earthquake of 1596 throw down
Kioto’s Dai-butsu, hut that the great Taiko, on seeing it in
ruins, became flushed with anger, and saying- scornfully,
“ I placed you here at an immense expense, with no other
purpose than that you might watch over and help the
people, and you cannot even help yourself,” discharged an
arrow at the poor broken idol in its hour of impotence and

VOL. II. Q

226

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

sliame. We had cause enough to he angry with Hideyoshi
a few pages ago with reference to the wrongful deterrui-
nation which he came to when meditating in front of the
temple of Kiyomidzu ; but we hardly thought that a few
years after he would be so rash and hot-headed as to fire
an arrow at the very god whom he himself set up, and to do
so, apparently, only because he had not set him up properly,
or with due regard to the fact that Kioto, and indeed all
Japan, as Japanese well know, rests upon the hack of an
immense catfish, which starts earthquakes every time it
moves !

Our strolls through the streets of Kioto were highly
amusing, especially when we took a turn along that street in
particular which was principally devoted to the amusements
of the people, and to the sale of tobacco and photographs.
Here were the booths of the story-tellers ; the waxwork
heroes and heroines, respectively terrible and beautiful, and
wonderful all; the conjurers, the tumblers, the loose-rope
walkers ; the working models of the unmentionable had
place, with the saws, and the augurs, and the other instru-
ments for disintegrating the naughty, all at work by hand
machinery ; the curious animals, and the still more curious
people that Nature sometimes makes in mistake ; and perhaps
more important than all, those long-tailed ancestors of ours
who appear to have been made so without any mistake, and
who linger superfluous on the stage now that their descendants
have become as clever as my readers and I know ourselves to
•he. It was curious also to see, as we did here, peepshows of
warlike scenes and battles in which were figuring several of
the ministers, generals, and admirals whose acquaintance we
had had the privilege of making in Tokio, and among them
our distinguished host Admiral Kawamura, then in Kioto
itself with us, hut employing his time at the moment in a
better way than that of peering into something even
humbler than the penny peepshow of my native England.
It was curious, too, to see in the photograph-shops these
same ministers, generals, and admirals aforementioned, hut
here appearing, for the most part, not in their present

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, TEE WESTERN CAPITAL.

227

modernised and European attire, but in the quaint and
picturesque dresses and headdresses of Old Japan. On one
or two occasions I saw in the interior of Japan a photograph
of one of my own ships (as we professional men fondly, but
most improperly, call the ships we have built or designed
for others) ; and, after certain photographic experiences of
ours in Tokio, Nagasaki, and Nagoya, it is possible that
some of the travelling readers of this work may hereafter be
privileged to purchase the portrait of its author in the Sacred
Land for a few cents. I caution them, however, against
doing so, on the ground that 'Japan is a country in which
nature and art combine to produce much more pleasing
productions, and their money could therefore be better
laid out.

Then there is the village of Uji, which, if I may judge
by a photograph, is an extremely pretty riverside place.
We had arranged to visit it, but the probable condition
of the road after heavy rains deterred us. And then there
is the sacred mountain, Hiyei-zan, after which is named one
of the imperial corvettes which I had built for his majesty.
With this mountain are connected many important inci-
dents in the history of Japan, and although we did not
ascend it, it was so conspicuous an object on our approach
to the city and during our stay in it, that I think it well
to condense into a small compass, in the following lines,
a few observations upon it from the pen of a gentleman
who went over it in 1877, notwithstanding the record in
previous chapters of the principal facts connected with the
famous temples of Enriaku-ji (here spelt Yenriyakuji) : — *

Ancient annals record that the first temple erected on it was founded
by Shotoku-taishi. In 788 a learned priest, Saicho, by command of
Kuwammu, the first Mikado of Kioto, built another temple, called, with
its surrounding shrines, Yenriyakuji. Saicho was sent to China to
learn the doctrines of the Buddhist sect, subsequently called Tendai,
which he introduced into Japan on his return. He brought back

* Condensed from ‘ Some Scenes Read before the Asiatic Society of

between the Ancient and the Modern Japan, June 1878.

Capitals of Japan,’ by W. J. Dixon.

Q 2

• 228

JAPAN.

[chap. IX,

witli him a thousand sacred hooks, and the first tea-plants ever seen
in his country. Tradition further says that he transported from
Mount Gotai in China the earth on which he built the first Japanese
church of the Tendai sect. The new opinions prospered, and the
temples on Hiyei-zan, comiirehended under the name Yenriyakuji,
increased to a large number, and became remarkable for wealth and
magnificence. In the midst of their prosperity, and probably because
of it, however, the priests began to take an active part in the feuds
that distracted the country. Their temples became from their
situation such strong castles that at length they defied the IMikado
himself to subdue them. In the war between the emperor Go-Daijo
(1319 A.D.) and the rebel Ashikaga, they, however, took the imperial
side, and gave refuge to his majesty when Kioto was besieged. Their
despotism over the neighbouring provinces at length became so un-
bearable that Ota Nobunaga resolved to take summary vengeance upon
them, and this he did one dark night, burning the temples to ashes,
and killing or taking cai^tive the priests. In the time of the Shogun
lyemitsu (1623-49), however, the former splendour of these monas-
teries of Hiyei-zan was restored, and the spiritual power of the Tendai
sect revived. Notwithstanding an attempt of the Shogun in 1627 to
dispossess the priests of Yenriyakuji of their pre-eminence by trans-
ferring his favour to the new shrines at Uyeno, Yedo, they continued
to flourish until the revolution of 1868, when, with other character-
istic features of Old Japan, they fell into the background.

After describing his ascent 'to the summit of the moun-
tain on a brilliant summer morning, Mr. Dixon says that
they obtained from it a panoramic view of the sublimes t
description.

“ On the north the whole extent of Lake Biwa, ^ with promontory,
creek, and bay,’ lay calmly stretched for 50 miles to a dark mountain
barrier. In the foreground its waters were overlooked by hills of the
most luxuriant dark green, and its blue sheet was broken at intervals
by white sails. To the east of these hills a shoulder of the mountain
obscured a small portion of the lake, which, when it again appeared, was
much narrower, and margined on the further side by a flat fertile shore,
behind which the sand-downs traversed by the Tokaido rolled away
to the hills in the horizon. Appearing right below us at the southern
extremity of the lake were the thickly clustering houses of Otsu ; a
little steamer was entering the harbour. Then to the south followed
wrinkled hills, until the plain of Kioto came into view, with the city
lying at full length, an oblong mass of brown varied with white in a
green setting. The two tributaries of the Kamogawa could be followed
until they met at the city’s northern extremity and then united into

CHAP. IX.] KIOTO, THE WESTERN CAPITAL. 229

one stream, the yellow channel of which formed two well-marked but
unequal divisions of the area of houses. Numerous white spots
indicated those buildings whose walls were plastered ; one, long and
horizontal, being evidently the Shogun’s castle ; and a space of thick
wooding near the northern boundary marked what was at one time
deemed the most sacred spot in all Japan, the secluded seat of the
Son of Heaven. Cloud-shadows were slowly creeping over the plain
which grew less and less distinct until it almost merges with the faint
surface of the distant sea. To the west, hills beyond hills rolled away
to the horizon like an ocean of billows. The summit of Hiyei-zan is
marked with a little granite dome of from three to four feet high, and
containing a stone image. The ascent from the point where we left our
jinrihi-slia took us about two hours, and the descent rather more than
one hour. The height of the summit above the plain is 2700 feet,
and, the latter being 300 feet above the sea-level, the total height of
the mountain is 3000 feet.”

Mr. Dixon concludes : “ These notes may fitly close with
this panorama of the romantic region in which for so many
centuries lay secluded from the world this venerable city of
Japan, destined, let us hope, to be encircled in the- minds of
men with an even brighter halo than that which, in the days
of the nation’s childhood, the presence of the Son of Heaven
threw around her. May the pearl become still worthier of
its setting, for fair as any dream of elfinland are these sunny
hills and shadowy glades.” With this generous outburst of
pretty but unsteady eloquence, I, too, will conclude my notes
on Kioto. And yet, why should I not add that on Monday
the 3rd of March I found myself so unwell, with chills and
feverish symptoms alternating, that I resolved to remain
indoors, and this I did the more readily as we had to com-
mence on the following day our long journey of twelve to
fifteen days in jinrihi-shas through the interior of the
country by the high road of the Tokaido, over which for
so long a period the Daimios of the west and south had
to wend their way every three years to Yedo (now Tokio),
the capital of the Tycoons. Our friendly English-speaking
priest, Akamatsu, of the Nishi-Honganji temple, came early
to our residence, to present me with some poetic writing
which he had been good enough to prepare at my request,
and to again express the compliments and good wishes of

230

JAPAN.

[chap. IX.

the archbishop and his brother. Soon afterwards our recent
host, the brother of the archbishop of the Eastern Church,
did us the honour of calling and taking his leave, at the
same time presenting me with a fine example of his writing
on silk, together with a valuable tea-service of Kioto porce-
lain, the work of one of the best makers in the city. Thus I
came into possession of friendly mementoes of my visit from
the heads of both branches of the great Shinshu body. I
also received a visit from a priest of the great temple of
Chionin, which we had visited on the day of our arrival in
Kioto, and accepted from him a volume setting forth the
origin of the temple in the life of its founder. Numerous
other memorials of our visit were sent in throughout the
day from friendly persons, including photographs, silks,
sahe cups, etc. I contrived to spend several hours in
writing, hut was driven by illness early to bed.

TOWER OF NAGOYA CASTLE.

( 231 )

CHAPTEE X.

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

Start from Kioto— Otsu — Lake Biwa — The famous temples of Ishiyama-
dera — Their legendary origin — An ancient authoress — The extraordi-
nary mountain pass of Sudsuga — Jinrihi-sha men — Pilgrims to Ise —
The road to the shrines — Legend of a pine-tree — Matsuzaka, the birth-
place of Motoori — His writings — A wet evening — Visit to a girls’ school
— More pilgrims — The Geku shrine — The goddess worshipped there —
Offence of the god Susanoo— Origin of the imperial regalia of Japan —
The Naiku or inner shrine of the sun-goddess — The sacred mirror —
The pilgrims at the end of their pilgrimage — A ceremonial temple
dance performed by virgin priestesses — Shinto worship at its most
sacred shrine — Solemn woods — The ancient faith — “ A study in blue
and gold ” — The “ Temple of Immortal Splendour ” — The return —
Picturesque scenes — Still pilgrims — Their costumes and equipments —
The simplicity and purity of Shinto worship.

Eising by six o’clock on the 4th of March, in spite of
continued illness, our arrangements for starting were
speedily completed, and soon after seven we commenced
our lengthened journey to Tokio, intending to make the
divergences necessary for visiting the temple of Ishiyama-
dera, and for then proceeding to the ancient and sacred
shrines of Ise."^ The governor of Kioto was good enough,
with some members of his staff, to escort us as far as Otsu,

* “ The temples of Ise, called by
the Japanese ‘ Kio-dai-jin-gu, or
literally the ‘ Two Great Divine
Palaces,’ are situated in the depart-
ment of Watarai, at a short distance
from each other. They rank first
among all the Shinto temples in
Japan in point of sanctity, though
not the most ancient, and have in the

eyes of the Japanese the same im-
portance as the holy places of Pales-
tine in the eyes of Greeks and
Armenians, or Mecca in those of the
Mahometans. Thousands of pilgrims
resort thither annually, chiefly dur-
ing the spring months, when the
weather is most suited to travelling.”
— Mr. Ernest Satoiv.

232

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

on Lake Biwa, so that, with a further escort of two police
officers in front and two behind, our train of jinriki-shas
was fully as long as usual. It was a dull hut dry morning
when we left, and soon reaching the Sanjo bridge we fairly
started upon the Tokaido, which takes its uphill way through
the eastern suburb of the city, and becomes a very fine
broad macadamised road, winding still upwards between
lovely wooded hills, as soon as the city is left behind.
After a mile of road, at the highest level, the Tokaido dips
down into a large open valley, from all sides of which the
clouds, which had been gathering there through the night,
were now rising like curtains of silken mists towards the
mountain-tops. The levels were studiously cultivated, the
hillsides liberally wooded, the road thronged with traffic,
and the sun was doing its best to shine on everything,
although under somewhat disadvantageous circumstances.

At a few minutes past eight we came upon the railway
works, which are in course of construction from Kioto to
Otsu, and which are afterwards to be carried by the lake-side
on to Tsuruga. This will open a direct railway route from
Tsuruga to Kioto and Osaka, so that the sea-borne products
of the northern part of Japan and of the great colony
of Yezo may find ready access to those great cities, and
by Osaka and Kobe to the capital, Tokio, instead of having,
as now, to make the long round by the straits of Shimonoseki.
For many classes of produce this will be a very great improve-
ment. Before half past eight the beautiful lake of Biwa
opened before us as we descended towards the large .town of
Otsu, situated at its southern extremity. Otsu is a town
of about forty thousand inhabitants, and has the appearance
of great prosperity. It contains several houses of European
aspect, several large schools, and an abundance of Shinto
temples.* The mayor of the district we were entering was
good enough to join us here, and provide us with tea and
cake at a lake-side house as pretty as any at Zurich, in

* In passing through the main Shinto temples, although there pro-
street of Otsu I ohserved none but bably are others in the town.

CHAP. X.]

TEE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

233

so far as scenery is concerned. Indeed the view down the
lake is even finer than at Zurich, the hills on the right
being more detached, hold, and picturesque. This is one of
eight places from which the lake is supposed -to he viewed
with great advantage, and we were now about to proceed to
another, still more celebrated. I may first mention, however,
that Lake Biwa is by far the largest in Japan. It is 50
miles long, and its breadth at its greatest is 20 miles. It
is therefore longer than, and more than twice the breadth
of, the Lake of Geneva. It is narrowest at the southern
end, which alone we saw, and contracts to a breadth of only
about a mile at Katata, which is 10 miles off ; hut beyond
that, north-eastwards, it rapidly broadens and becomes a
splendid sheet of water.

The second of the points 'of view before-mentioned is
Ishiyama-dera, the site of famous Buddhist temples, whither
our friends from Kioto decided on accompanying us. The
distance thither was not great, hut we had to diverge from
the Tokaido in order to reach the spot, and well were we
repaid for doing so. Ishiyama-dera is one of the loveliest
spots in Japan, or probably in any country. After ascending
a long flight of steps one comes upon a natural platform, out
of which stand up masses of sheer and apparently toppling
black rocks, around and above which, on other rocky ledges and
picturesque sites, is a crowd of temples, shrines, and pagodas,
with trees springing everywhere from among them, and
steps and terraces scattered about to facilitate the movements
of visitors. The place is celebrated, as one can well believe,
for its beauty by moonlight, offering on the one hand this
picturesque massing of natural and temple scenery, and on
the other a magnificent view of the lake with the Tokaido
bridge crossing one of its branches. The temple is eleven
hundred and fifty years old, having been built in the reign
of Shomu-Tenno (724-48 a.d.), and parts of the original
buildings, including a room into which we went, dated from
its foundation. Ishiyama is particularly fortunate in its
idol, for it has a Kwannon that — according to a paper lying at
the door — is exceedingly generous in granting to people

234

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

what they pray for. There is a curious legendary story
connected with the founding of this temple, which I cannot
profess to give with strict accuracy, hut it runs somewhat
in this wise. The Mikado, desiring to build a great image
more than 60 feet high, with probably a temple to hold
it, felt the need of money, and sent Sojio, a priest, to
worship one of the Gongen gods, and inquire where gold
could he found. Sojio did so, but was informed by Gongen
that he would do better to worship and inquire of Kwannon.
Sojio went to Lake Biwa, and consulted an old boatman
whom he found fishing on the lake as to a suitable place for
worship, and was informed that there was on the hill (where
the temple now stands) a lotus-shaped rock very suitable for
the purpose, the old fisherman disappearing after giving the
information — thus proving himself to be a god. Sojio went
to Kioto and obtained from the son of the great Shotoku-
taishi a gold image of Kwannon 6 inches long, and conveyed
it to the spot pointed out near the lake, there worshipping
it, and inquiring where gold could he got. Gold was very
soon after discovered in considerable quantities in the north of
Japan, hut unfortunately Sojio found that the gold Kwannon
could not by any possible means be removed from the lotus-
shaped rock, and therefore recommended the construction of
a temple over the image."^ The Mikado approved, the temple
was built, and there it stands to the present hour ; and
although the Kwannon has but two hands in this case, it is,
as I have said, liberal in the highest degree. The Mikado,
in gratitude for the gold discovery, resolved to build a great
temple in Kioto, and that, I was informed at Ishiyama-dera,
is how the great Toji temple, already described, came to he
built. While digging its foundations a precious hall was
discovered, and Sojio made an image 20 feet high to contain

* A similar incident is recorded as tank, but to the dismay of all con-

the origin of the celebrated and cerned the idol stoutly declined to

splendid Vishnu Pagoda, near Tri- be lifted again. A shrine had there-

chinopoly, in India. A golden image fore to be built over it, and the shrine

of Vishnu was laid upon the ground has grown into a temple, Jfnd the

by its bearer, Visbhishana, while temple into a sort of sacred city,

its custodian bathed in the sacred

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

235

it, and placed it with two others 8 feet high at the side
of it. This is how the story was told to me, as a rough
translation of a printed paper which, with a portrait of the
goddess, was presented to us ; and although I cannot quite
make the dates and the Mikados of Toji and Ishiyama run
together, I have no doubt that all the substantial truth of
the matter is sufficiently embodied in the above version.
The ancient apartment already adverted to is celebrated as
the chamber in which a well-known Japanese work was
partly composed by a well-known Japanese authoress. I
am afraid that neither the lady nor the hook is as celebrated
in England as in Japan, but as I should he sorry to deprive
any large number of my readers of the pleasure of identifying
a literary celebrity whom they mmj happen to know of, and
as I should be proud to extend her present fame among my
countrymen, I will mention that the title of this work is
‘ Genji-monogatari,’ and that the name of the authoress is
Murasaki-shikibu."^ This distinguished writer prayed to the
goddess Kwannon to aid her in the composition of her work,
and spent seven nights in the chamber spoken of in pursuance
of her task, and we must all be delighted to know that both
her piety and her industry have been rewarded in the wide-
spread renown of her work.

But the time for lingering on this mount of mystery and
beauty is past, and we therefore descend to the level of the
common earth again, leaving the rocks and the temples and
the shrine of the goddess to another thousand years of
beauty and celebrity. Before we re-enter our jinriki-shas,
our Kioto friends take leave of us, and we attempt in vain
to put in words our thanks for the kindness they have
shown to us — more especially the governor, to whose active
and personal exertions we owe so many advantageous oppor-
tunities of seeing the ancient city of Kioto. We also took
leave with thanks of the mayor in whose district we now
were, and whose arrangements for our passage through it
were excellent and generous. After regaining the Tokaido

* See ante, pp. 33 and G8.

236

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

and crossing the bridge, our course again lay through a
very pretty hilly country, picturesquely wooded, and culti-
vated in the manner so frequently mentioned. The only
remarkable feature of the road was its frequent passage
across river-beds raised high above the surrounding country,
and carrying the mountain torrents down to the lake.
After lunching at the village of Ishibe, where some of the
officers and servants of our party had already caused every-
thing to be prepared, we pressed on through gloom and
mist that thickened into rain, and preserved that form until
we stopped for the evening and. night at the village of
Tsuchiyama, where in a native inn we found comfortable
quarters prepared for us, and ate a dinner that would have
satisfied every one but a gourmet. The only incident of the
road, save the numberless small incidents of a passage
through staring and amused villages, was the discovery on
the top of a column by the roadside of the deaf, mute, and
blind monkeys whose acquaintance on a smaller scale we
had made a few days previously in the lumber chamber of
the gods at the temple of Toji.

It was in heavy rain that we started next morning
(Wednesday the 5th of March) to cross the Sudsuga moun-
tain-pass in pursuance of our journey to Ise. The much too
careful servants of the house began to stir about in my
room at four o’clock, after which I slept no more, and before
seven we were moving away in our jinrilci-slias, the number
of which had somehow increased to about eighteen. The
rain had caused our jinrihi men to don their wet weather
apparel, which consisted of either sheets of oil-paper, sup-
posed to be waterproof, or strips of matting round loins and
shoulders, with straw hats of shapes and sizes so various
that no two were probably even approximately alike : some
were perfectly flat, others pyramidal, others parts of spheres,
frustrums of pyramids, and bits of ellipsoids, while others
were formed to nameless curved 'surfaces, or at least to
surfaces which my geometry is insufficient to define with
accuracy ; some were black and some were of the natural
colour of the straw, some were large and some were small.

CHAP. X.]

THE SAGRED SHRINES OF ISE.

237

most of them were worn till we changed our men, hut others
were slung up on the back of the jinriki-shas after the
wearer had become impatient of them, and others were
pitched to friends by the way as we passed through the
villages on our line of procession. As to the oil-papers and
the straw mats, they got gradually dispensed with one after
another long before the rain left off ; and whenever there was
a lull in the boisterous beauty of the scenery through which
we passed, one could amuse himself with observing the
competition between the soiling power of mud and the
cleansing quality of rain upon the naked forms of men from
the waist downward, as they toiled up hill and down for
hours together in a manner which it is very hard to recon-
cile oneself to. Man is such a wonderful being even at his
worst, and out of the common crowd of men such marvellous
individuals come forth — ay, and what is to me far more im-
pressive still, one sees even in the lowest classes of men, who
are put to do mere brute work, such a play of industry,
loyalty to duty, humour, intelligence, alertness, steadiness,
devotion, and many other virtues, that for my part I never
treat even the meanest of them with any asperity without
fearing lest I might have hurt the susceptibilities of some
mute inglorious being, or caused a better intellect than my
own to feel in some dumb way that — •

“Man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority.

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.”

One is made to feel the force of this continually in these
Eastern lands, and nowhere more, I fear, than where we
Europeans lord it over the other races. I was never quite
happy at Hong Kong when carried (as I admit you must at
present be there) upon the shoulders of the Chinese chair-
men ; I am never quite happy here, among these poor
jinriki-sha men, dragging their fellow-men about in carriages
in all weathers, under all circumstances, often with attenuated
muscles and wasting lungs and breaking heartstrings.

After leaving Tsuchiyama we soon found ourselves among

238

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

the pilgrims: there is no mistaking them in any country
where I have ever seen them, and this day they were
numerous, for were we not journeying towards those most
sacred, most universally reverenced, of all the shrines of
Japan! In every house in Japan it is, or was, the custom
to have some simple card or memorial of the gods wor-
shipped at Ise, and here, on this occasion, were men, women,
and young people from all parts of the country, with every
kind of Japanese face, and every variety of Japanese costume,
wending their wet and often weary way to and from these
sacred spots.

After a long climb up what may fairly be called the
mountain-sides of Sudsuga to the village of that name, vre
stopped a few minutes to change carriages, and then made
the swift descent to Seki, at which place we were still on
the Tokaido. This descent at Sudsuga is a most remarkable
one, the main road being brought down the exceedingly steep
side of the mountain by a series of greatly inclined slopes,
alternating in opposite directions, the steeper portion being
succeeded by a mile or two of ordinary road of unusually
large gradient. The town at the foot of the descent is
named Seki, and as that is the equivalent of “ gate,” and
there was formerly a gate on this side of the steep descent
just mentioned, I presume this was the site of the Sudsuga
gate of the Tokaido. The scenery through all this part of
the journey was not inferior to that between Coire and the
Engadine, except in the absence of such very elevated moun-
tains, none of this range of Japanese hills rising, so far as
we could see, to what are known as Alpine heights. The
beauty of the country could not, however, be easily ex-
aggerated ; lofty wooded hills of diversified shapes, rushing
rivers, and endless changes of aspect all combining to please
and interest the eye. We saw most of the scene under very
unfavourable conditions, viz. in a heavy driving rain, but
he must be but a poor traveller and a weak imaginer who
cannot mentally sweep the rain-clouds from such a land-
scape, fill the valleys with sunshine, and dash the necessary
sparkling lights on trees and streams. Besides, a landscape

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

239

seen in rain, and especially a mountain-landscape so seen,
has many and peculiar beauties of which the mere sun-
worshipper knows nothing; and just as Emerson has felt
exhilarated, as he somewhere tells us, in crossing a common
through snow puddles, so may we feel and delight in the
sombre beauty of rain-swept vales and hills, provided only
we are in sympathy with it. Early in the afternoon the
weather cleared, as we left behind us the mountain ranges,
and ere long the mirrored light of Owari Bay was seen in
the distance, and passing through the large town of Tsu, and
some of the most squalid and dirty villages that we have
seen in Japan, we came at length about three o’clock into
the town of Matsuzaka, and found charming apartments
prepared for us within the gates of the Jodo (Buddhist)
temple Jikiyoji. Having lunched at Kobuta about noon, we
had time to spare, and strolled through the town, to the
great interest and amusement, apparently, of the inhabitants,
and of none more than of the very young children, who in
Japan seem at extremely early ages to employ their little
bright black eyes in scrutinies worthy of more experienced
persons. Indeed, one wonders at what ages these little
intelligences begin to be observant, for on one occasion —
indeed, on the day now under review — I looked to see what
was in a little bundle that a young woman was holding, and
found in it a miniature man, who looked steadily at me as
if surprised at my impertinence. I was informed that this
observant young person was ten days old.

In the course of the journey to Matsuzaka we stopped at
a wayside shrine which has attached to it a religious legend
that has points of interest in it. Eoughly speaking, it is
this. Nearly eleven hundred years ago a gentleman called
Ononotakamura was banished for some disobedience to the
Mikado, and his wife, who was sorry for him, wished to go
into exile with him. This, however, was denied her, and
she consequently stole out of Kioto to the foot of Mount
Hi-yei, where she lived for a time, and then started with a
blind man by night for the sacred shrines of Ise. Being
unaccustomed to travelling, she got very weary on the way,

240

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

and on reaching the spot where stands the shrine she
inquired of a farming man the distance to the Ise temples.
For the fim of the thing he told her that they were twenty
days’ journey, which was a great exaggeration, and this so
discouraged the poor lady that she resorted to a device
which shows that a lady could he as ingenious eleven
hundred years ago as now. She decided on giving up the
remainder of the journey, and praying to the gods from the
spot where she then stood, either ignoring the remaining
distance, or asking to have it treated for all practical pur-
poses as non-existent. So, hanging some coins upon a
young pine-tree hard by, she prayed, and submitted to the
god her desires and solicitations. The god must have heard
and attended to her, for hy-and-hy the farming man, on
attempting to carry off the money that she had hung on the
pine-tree, was frightened to see it turn into a fire-spitting
two-headed serpent, which he dare not approach. He then
inquired more particularly about the lady, and, repenting of
his misleading reply to her question, himself “personally
conducted” her and her blind friend to the shrines. The
pine-tree was designated the “ Hang-the-money-up ” tree, a
shrine was built on the spot, and whoever, being ill of any
complaint whatever thereafter, ate a little piece of the tree,
was pretty sure to get well forthwith. There is a very old-
looking piece of a tree within the shrine, with some money
hanging on it, hut I am hound to give the Japanese credit
for a very strict regard to truth in these matters. They
never overdo, or much overdo, a miraculous affair of this
sort. Had this occurred in Europe, in any of those churches
and monasteries where I have listened to similar accounts,
my informants would, I doubt not, have kept the original
pine-tree in existence until now, and claimed identity with
it for the withered limb or fragment displayed, and the
coins likewise would have been the very coins brought by
Madame Ononotakamura from Mount Hi-yei. But here, on
the contrary, we were distinctly informed that the pine-tree
in question died about four hundred years ago — and there-
fore lived less than seven hundred years ! — and that it had

CHAP. X.]

THE SAC BED SHRINES OE JSE.

241

been necessary to plant a successor in order to keep its
memory green. I must acknowledge, however, that any
one, Japanese or other, would naturally hesitate to propound
even an exaggeration on a spot where a two-headed serpent
had been known to spit fires in defence of the true and the
right.

This town of Matsuzaka, where now we were, was the
birthplace, in 1730, of a very eminent scholar and critic,
named Motoori Norinaga, whom I have had occasion to
quote in the first volume (chap, iii.), and who, from his child-
hood, was remarkable for his love of learning. His father
died when he was but ten years old, and his mother was left
poor, so that he had to struggle with adverse circumstances
in commencing his career. He was somehow sent to the
capital, Kioto, to study language and medicine, and there
deepened his interest in the pursuit of learning. He, how-
ever, returned to Matsuzaka, and commenced practice for the
treatment of children. Another great scholar, Mabuchi, pub-
lished about that time a now famous work, of which Motoori
obtained the loan ; and he afterwards was fortunate enough to
meet Mabuchi himself. At this interview — it appears from
Mr. Satow’s writings — Motoori spoke of his own desire
to write a commentary on the Kojihi, the most ancient
historical record (date 711) of Japan, and Mabuchi replied
that he also had wished to explain the sacred writings,
but in order to do this it was first necessary to get rid
of the effects of the Chinese philosophy, and discover the
genuine beliefs of antiquity. He advised Motoori to direct
his studies accordingly, which he did with such success
that in 1764 he commenced his great work, the Kojihi
den, which is an edition of the Kojihi with an elaborate
commentary. It took him till 1786 to complete the first
volume of the ancient book, but its success was immediate,
and one of his biographers states that his fame drew to
him nearly five hundred students from all parts of the
country — poor fellow ! The second part was finished in
1792. He had a flourishing career, Daimios and princes
competing for^ the privilege of pensioning him. In 1801

VOL. II. R

242

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

he visited Kioto, where he lectured to crowds of admirers,
including princes of the blood and court nobles; hut the
old King of Terrors ordered him hack in the autumn of
that year, and he has since reposed in a tomb previously
prepared to his own order, in the monastery of Miorakuji,
near this place, Matsuzaka.

Our evening at Matsuzaka, being a very wet one, was spent
indoors, and by degrees I was successful in bringing the con-
versation to hear upon the recent rebellion of General Saigo
and his Satsuma men, in repressing which Admiral Kawamura
took, as we know, a leading part, hut concerning which he is
usually silent. On this occasion his Excellency was good
enough to favour me with a general account of the nature and
circumstances of that lamentable rebellion, hut I was after-
wards told by an officer present at the operations which
resulted in the overthrow of Saigo that I should have to
learn from some other source how energetically and bravely
the admiral himself performed his duty. This I was for-
tunate enough afterwards to do.

The following morning dawned with such a storm of
rain and wind that it was decided to start later in the
day than had been contemplated, and breakfast was deferred
till nine o’clock, and our departure till after ten. By an
oversight the jinriki-slias were later in coming, and the
interval was spent in strolling through the town. Within
the temple gates, however, was a building appropriated as a
school for giving instruction in needle-work to girls, and a
couple of dozen or so of the pretty little learners were at
the gate indulging with many others their curiosity by
viewing “ the Chinese ” ; for the sight of a foreigner is so
extremely rare in these parts of Japan that all foreigners
pass with the inhabitants as people of the nearest foreign
country, viz. China. We thought it unfair to those inhabit-
ants to appear indifferent to the interests of Japanese girls,
and accordingly turned towards the school to ask a few
questions respecting it. But the beauties began “ to back ”
at our approach, and retreated to the door, and, finding us
still advancing, cast off their clogs, or pattens, or shoes.

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SERINES OF ISE.

243

or whatever they may best he called, and spread through
the house giggling and screaming with something that could
not have been fear, and probably was not delight, so may
perhaps have been amusement. We followed them in, and
gently hunted them till we got them together, and then
spent a few minutes in learning particulars of the school,
which particulars I entirely forget. We soon separated from
them for ever, aa we have had to do from so many hundreds,
ay thousands, of others, having at least shown them that
“ the Chinese ” are not insensible to the attractions of their
neighbours.

At the end of our stroll through the village, we stopped
at the last tea-house to wait for our jinrihi-shas, and there
sat enjoying the surrounding light and warmth of the sun
— for the day had become clear and fine — sipping tea and
smoking cigarettes in the shade of a large Wistaria- tree,
trained to serve as a roof to a bower, and in view of a very
pretty garden, intended to attract the pilgrims, doubtless,
on their way hack from the sacred shrines. At length the
jinrild-shas draw up ; in we get, off we go, for eight or nine
miles through sun that is hot and wind that is cold, and an
atmosphere that is fresh and pure from the long rain-
cleansings of the evening, night, and morning. The pilgrims
thicken as we go, most of them walking or toddling, some
of them riding packed in carts and little vans made gay
with colours on the outside even brighter than the cheeks
of the many plump and red-faced country-girls inside. The
pilgrims are obviously mostly peasants, and, there being but
little work for peasants at this season, they judiciously make
their religious pilgrimages now. The fact of its being their
season for the shrines, so to speak, is perhaps a reason for
superior people choosing seasons at other periods. There
was a good deal of shopping being done by these peasant-
pilgrims, more especially by those returning, the trade done
chiefly being in tobacco-pouches and straw hats — hats like
those of the jinrihi men mentioned not long ago. These
broad hats, of all sorts and shapes, are such very odd adorn-
ments—notwithstanding their manifestly great utility as

K 2

244

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

screens from the sun in hot weather — that it was curious
to see people examining them and comparing them one with
another, and weighing in the delicate scales of their taste
their respective merits and beauties. But there they were,
holding them this way and that way, and viewing them with
nice discrimination, and after fixing upon and purchasing
one (I suppose for a very few coppers) carefully slinging it
in front, or behind, as Highlanders carry their shoes, to take
care of them, and then marching away complacently upon
their resumed journey homewards — home being in some cases,
probably, hundreds of miles away, beyond the mountains and
seas. After crossing the rapid river Mij^agawa in boats, with
crowds of villagers gathered picturesquely on botli banks of
the river, and lining the streets of all the villages, to see the
foreigners and the party generally, and after a further short
drive, we alighted in Yamada, at the gate, or rather the torii,
of the outer of the ancient shrines of Ise, known as the
Geku, or Outer Palace.

Dating from many centuries before the introduction of
Buddhism into J apan, these are, of course, Shinto shrines, and
at the entrance we were met by two Shinto priests who had
been deputed to show us the sacred place. Passing under
the torii we were at once amidst trees of an age and magni-
tude not often to be equalled. This is such a country of
extremely tall, large, and ancient trees that no particular
notice is taken of even very striking examples, but I was
glad to observe that throughout these splendid temple-parks
of Yamada and Uji, in which are the most sacred religious
shrines of Japan, the finer and older trees were carefully
fenced in. Within the temple limits we came first to a
small edifice in which w^as the wdiite horse of the deity of the
place, which happened to be an artificial horse, the real one
having recently died, and another not being forthcoming at
present, for a reason Avhich I did not learn. Soon after-
wards we came to two living black horses consecrated to the
services of the temple, and more particularly for the god of
the place, Toyouke-hime-no-kami — ‘‘ the god of food, clothes,
and house-living,” as one authority explained it to me, or

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

245

“the god of the earth’s produce,” as another put it — to ride
upon in the processions of the great temple ceremonials. As
I could not get on the spot any clear and unvarying account
of the gods worshipped at these Ise temples, I afterwards
sought for additional information, hut owing to the fact of
their belonging to the mythologic period I could find nothing
that was altogether satisfactory, especially as regards the
sex of the deity of the Geku. The clearest account that I
could get was that given in a translation by Mr. Satow of
extracts from a compilation of myths from the most reliable
sources by a native writer, Hirata Atsutane, observing that
I propose to abridge the narrative for the convenience of this
work, and to put it into my own language, so far as I may
find desirable.

The history of the case runs thus : Amaterasu, the sun-
goddess, sent Susanoo to search for a goddess named Uke-
mochi-no-kami in the central country of luxuriant reedy
moors (Japan), and the messenger found Ukemochi, and soli-
cited food from her. This request was responded to by
Ukemochi, who produced food from her mouth and nose, and
otherwise unpleasantly, thus angering the god Susanoo,
who exclaimed, “Foul indeed, despicable indeed! Why
feed me with foul things ? ” and, drawing his sword,
struck Ukemochi-no-kami dead. On Susanoo reporting
the matter in detail to Amaterasu, she was very angry,
called Susanoo a wicked god, and remained secluded from
him a day and a night. Amaterasu afterwards sent
Amekuma-no-ushi to see if Ukemochi was really dead,
and the messenger found growing on the body of the goddess,
in various parts, a silkworm, a mulberry-tree, rice-seeds.

* lu Mr. Griffis’s version of this
legend, Susaiiod (or, as he spells the
name, Sosanoo) is the moon-goddess,
and the punishment she received
from the sun-goddess was, that she
was degraded from their joint rule,
and condemned to appear only at
night, wliile the sun-goddess slept.
But accordiug to Uirata, the moon

appears to be a masculine deity, for
in quoting from his ‘ Koshi-Seibun ’
Mr. Satow says that while the sun-
goddess was produced from the left
eye of Izanagi-no-mikoto, from his
right eye was produced Tsukiyomi-
no-mikoto, also called Takehaya-
Snsanoo-no-mikoto ; and adds, “ this
is the moon, a masculine deity.”

246

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

barley, and a large and small bean, the bead being changed
into a cow and a horse. On receiving these things, Amaterasu
rejoiced, saying, “ These things are things which the bean-
tifiil green-human-herb eating may live,” and she constituted
barley, bean-seeds, etc., of the dry fields, and rice-seeds of
the watery fields. Also she appointed lords of the villages
of heaven, and for the first time made them plant rice-seeds
in the narrow fields and the long fields of heaven, so that in
the autumn the drooping ears were abundantly luxuriant,
and ripened well. Also she planted the mulherry-trees on
the fragrant hills of heaven, and reared silkworms, and,
chewing the cocoons in her mouth, spun thread — the arts
of silkworm-rearing and weaving then commencing. As
Ukemochi-no-kami is identical with Toyouke-hime-no-kami,
the foregoing legend explains how it has happened that the
principal deity of the Geku came to he regarded as the
giver of abundant food, etc.*

There are secondary deities worshipped there, the chief of
whom is the adopted grandson of the sun-goddess and the
great-grandfather of the first Mikado, Jimmu-Tenno, who
commenced his reign in the Japanese year 1. According to the
legend, says Mr. Satow, the goddess wished to send her adopted
son, Oshi-ho-mimi-no-mikoto, down upon earth to subdue it,
but he put forth his own son instead as leader of the expedition.
The goddess then presented Ninigi-no-mikoto with various
treasures, amongst which — and here we touch upon the
central sacredness alike of the race of Mikados and of the
symbols of the Shinto faith — the most important were the
mirror, sword, and stone or hall (afterwards the regalia of
the Japanese sovereigns), and attached to his person the
other two inferior gods of Geku. With reference to the
mirror, she said, “ Look upon this mirror as my spirit, keep

* “ The principal deity worshipped signifies ‘ abundant - foo 1 - goddess.’
at the Geku is Toyouke-hiinc-no- Z7/ie»ioc/<t-no-kaini signifies the ‘ food-
kami, called Ukemochi-no-kami in preserving-god.’ . . . Ogetsu-hime-no-
the Nihongi, and Ogetsuhime in the kaini means ‘goddess of food.’” —
Kojiki. Toyo means abundant ; uke, Satow.
footl ; hime, lady ; and the whole

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

247

it in the same house ancl on the same floor with yourself,
and worship it as if you were worshipping my actual
presence.”

To resume our narrative : Passing under another torii (of

plain unpainted timber, like all the torii of these Ise shrines),
we came to the outer gate of the temple proper, to which
alone of three successive gates we and the other pilgrims
were allowed to approach. With certain extremely rare
exceptions, extending only to the Mikado and commissioners
of his, none hut priests are allowed to pass this flrst gate.
It w^as an open gate, however, with a simple white cloth or
curtain hanging across it, blowing about as the wind listed.
Through this open gate, or past the sides of it if you pre-
ferred to stand there, you could see the next gate, and
beyond that again was a third, and then came the temple
proper, which could not he seen. This was all ! The build-
ings, as far as seen, were all of the plainest possible kind,
not unlike substantial well-thatched farm-buildings at home.
The mirror at this outer temple was not the original mirror,
and the priests did not for a moment leave us to sup-
pose that it was. There was, in fact, no pretence of any
kind about them ; hut the ancient buildings and the plain
white curtain were left to produce that w^hich is perhaps
the deepest and most lasting of all impressions made by
religious externals, viz. that of combined simplicity and
antiquity. Of this outer temple I need only add that it is in
every respect a sequel and appendage to the inner and more
ancient temple presently to he mentioned, having been built
by the desire of the goddess of the older Ise temple, who
wished to have the deity Toyouke near her. This, the
outer and later temple, dates from the reign of the twenty-
second Mikado of the present reigning dynasty, Yuriaku,
in the year 479 a.d. Before her removal here at that date
this goddess had been located in the village of Ma-na-i-wara,
in the province of Tamha.

On completing our visit to this outer temple, the Geku,
in Yamada-wara, we proceeded on through that village to a
private house which had been placed at our service, situated

248

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

on the highest ground of the adjacent village of Fruichi,
and with extensive views across rice-fields and gardens to
the mountains beyond. Here we took luncheon, and soon
afterwards started for the inner temple, Naiku.^ Here is
kept the original sacred mirror, which is the most precious
emblem of the Shinto faith, and is likewise, with the sacred
sword and hall, the authenticating memorial of the imperial
dynasty, regarded as all Japan regarded it for two thousand
five hundred years, down to 1868, and as most of the people
regard it still. This temple came to he built in the follow-
ing manner. The sacred emblems of the national religion
had, up to the time of the great Mikado Sujin, been kept in
the imperial palace or temple ; hut he, as some say to in-
crease their safety, and as others allege because he viewed a
rebellion which broke out as a mark of divine disapprobation
of their remaining in his custody, gave them into the charge
of his daughter, in a temple dedicated to them. They were
subsequently removed and carried from place to place, hut
at length, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Suinin-
Tenno, and therefore in the year 3 b.o., it was resolved to
fix the mirror at the village of Uji, on the river Suzugawa,
and there and then the present temple was built. f The old

* The distance between the two
temples must be between two and
three miles ; there are liouses nearly
the whole way.

t Mr. Griffis, in ‘ The Mikado’s
Empire,’ states that the sacred em-
blems, the mirror, ball, and the sword,
are in the Uji (Ise) temple ; but this
must be a mistake, as I was assured by
the priests at Uji (Ise) that only the
mirror is in their temple — the ball, they
said, is in the Mikado’s palace, and
the sword at Atsutu, in Miya, which
temple, as will be seen later on, we after-
wards visited. In his paper on the
‘ Revival of Pure Shinto,’ Mr. Satow,
while silent as to the whereabouts of
the sacred ball, correctly states the
facts with regard to the mirror and
sword, speaking of the sword as

“ enshrined at Atsutu in Owari,” and
of the mirror as “ worshipped at the
Naiku in Ise as the representative of
the goddess of the sun.” Considering
that the Ise temples are the most
sacred and apparently the purest
Shinto temples in Japan, it is not a
little startling — and is an example of
the strange difficulties that obstruct
the rapid acquisition of clear informa-
tion in Japan— to find Mr. Satow him-
self, in his paper on these shrines, say-
ing: “It has been observed that
Shinto temples often contain a mirror
placed in a prominent position, and
this mirror has been supposed by
foreigners to be their distinguishing
mark ; but it is only to be found in
those which have been under the in-
fiuence of Buddhism. It is absent

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

249

bnilcling does not exist ; on tlie contrary, a new temple is
erected every twenty years ; but each new temple is an
exact repetition of the original, and therefore the present
one is a perfect representation of the architecture of Japan
at the time of Christ. The principal deity here worshipped
is Amaterasu, the sun-goddess herself, as will have been
inferred from what has been said before. Mr. Satow con-
siders her as neither more nor less than a deification of the
sun. Her chief name (for she has several) signifies literally
the “ From-Heaven-Shining-Great-Deity.” The other deities
worshipped are Ta-jikara-o-no-kami and Yorozu-hata-toyo-
aki-tsu-hime-no-kami, of whom it is unnecessary to say more
here.

On passing from Fruichi to Uji, which lies at the foot of
the hills, embosomed in ancient woods, the river Mimosusogawa
has to be crossed by a fine bridge, at either end of which is
a large torii, indicating the approach to a temple of the
Shinto religion. After crossing the bridge into the village
of Uji, our jinrihi men, guided by local municipal and
police ofiicers, turned to the right, and passing up the main
street of Uji, through the interested and interesting in-
habitants, and between such ranges of well-to-do shops as
indicate that the pilgrims in the aggregate are pretty large
purchasers, we passed under another torii, and into the
temple precincts. A curving avenue of magnificent trees
led us through a park of equally fine ones, past a building
in which the priests preach to the people, past another in
which reside more of the sacred horses kept for the con-
venience of the goddess, past another in which the religious

from all the pure Shinto temples.”
This is perfectly true, because Mr.
Satow has been careful to introduce
tlie words “ placed in a prominent
position,” which the Ise mirror cer-
tainly is not, and from such a position
it is true that the mirror is absent
from the Naiku ; but that a mirror is
there, and is an object of worship, Mr.
Satow’s own words, (quoted previously.

properly state. It is, however, con-
cealed from view. In pure Shinto
temples there are no visible objects of
worship, but at the Naiku the repre-
sentation of the deity is nevertheless
the hidden sacred mirror ; and usually
the spirit of the deity is supposed to
be enshrined in some concealed object
known as the “ August Spirit-Sub-
stitute,” or “ God’s-Sectl. ’

250

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

dances of the temple are performed, and then was reached a
flight of stone steps leading to the first gateway of the sacred
place. Here the priests, who had met ns at the entrance to
the temple grounds, kindly presented me with plans of the
two temples, and a brief written history of them, adding
such oral explanations as occurred to them, and answering
whatever questions it occurred to us to put. The gateway
was open, and hung, like that of the other temple, with a
long white curtain, and beyond were seen another torii and
other gateways, but nothing could be seen of the temple
itself, and as little, of course, of the heaven-wrought mirror
within. As we stood, however, the pilgrims continued to
come, of both sexes and of all ages, and casting upon the
ground a few coins, some wrapped in paper, stooping, clap-
ping their hands, and uttering a few words of prayer, thus
attained and completed the object for which their journey-
ings had been undertaken. I asked if this was all they saw
and did, and was told that it was. I inquired if they
attended no religious service, saw no dances, heard no music,
received no advice ; and found that as a rule they did not.
Was no blessing pronounced, no simple memorial of some
kind presented to them? Nothing; but they all bought
little mementoes of the place at the stall in the grounds or
at the shops in the village.* What was it they said during

* “In every Japanese house there
is kept what is called a liami-dana,
or ‘ shelf for gods,’ which consists of
a miniature Shinto temple in wood,
containing paper tickets inscribed
with the names of various gods, one
of whom is invariably Tensho-ko-
daijin, the principal deity of Ise.
This ticket, or rather paper box, is
called o-harai, and is supposed to
contain between two thin boards
some pieces of the wand used by the
priests at Isc at the two annual festi-
vals in the sixth and twelfth months
of the year. These festivals are
called o-harai no matmri, and are
supposed to effect the puriheation of

the whole nation from sin during the
preceding half-year. Every believer
who has one of these o-harai in his
kami-dana is protected thereby from
misfortune for the next six months,
at the expiration of which time he
ought to exchange the o-harai for a
new one, which he must fetch from
Ise' in person ; but in practice the
o-harai is only changed once a year,
perhaps less often. The old ones
ought to be cast into a river or into
the sea, or may be destroyed by burn-
ing. They are usually employed to
light the fire which boils the water
for the bath prej^ared for the miko,
or virgin priestesses, after their dance

CHAP. X.] THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE. 251

the minute or two that they stooped before the shrine?
They no doubt asked for whatever they wanted in particular,
and generally for long life, and the means of life and happi-
ness in the years to come.

As a pilgrim myself I desired to see and learn a little-
more, and therefore I gladly fell in with the suggestion of
the priests, who proposed that we should go round to the
side of the temple inclosure and get a look at the buildings,
and especially at the shrine or temple itself, from an eminence
which afforded this. This we did, and had a very good, and
for all practical purposes a sufficient, view of what we came
to see. Of course we did not see, nor did we expect to see,
the mirror itself. Years upon years roll by without the
chief priest himself seeing even the case containing it, and
the other priests are not admitted into the building
without good cause. However, there was the temple, look-
ing just as it had looked when Christ was born, or nearly
so, and, as already said of the outer temple, the whole
appearing not unlike a substantial set of farm buildings.*
Inside of the door we were looking at was the mirror
itself, and therefore nothing was wanting to complete the
success of our pilgrimage.

Our agreeable companions the priests, however, most
kindly suggested that we ought to see one of the cere-
monial dances of the temple, and to this we gladly assented,
on learning that it would not be a repetition of what we had
seen at Osaka and at Nara, but one of the most ancient

in honour of the uji-gami, or patron
god of the locality, at his festival.
Up to the revolution in 1868, as it
was practically impossible for every
householder to fetch his own o-liarai
from Ise, there existed a class of
persons, called os/ii, who made it
their trade to hawk the o-harai about
the country, selling almanacs at the
same time. This practice has been
lately prohibited by the Mikado’s
government, and they can now be
obtained only at the temples them-

selves or at the recognised agencies.”
— ‘ The Shinto Temples of Ise,’ by
Mr. Ernest Satow, read at the Asiatic
Society of Japan. Mr. Satow’s is
doubtless a much fuller and better
account of these ancient temples than
mine, but I have thought it best to
tell my own story in my own way,
without attempting to rival, in any
degree, his more scholarly and studied
account.

* See small engraving on p. 88,
vol. i.

252

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

description, handed down from generation to generation at
these Ise shrines. The room had an altar at the end
opposite the entrance, over which was a large mirror. Bound
the altar and walls were an abundance of goJieis, and of
hands and tassels. At the altar end of the room sat on one
side a priest, and along each of the side walls were the
musicians and dancers, all sitting on their heels. The
musicians, who were also singers, were all men ; the dancers
were quite young girls, attired in white and red, with
frontlets of brass, from each end of which depended a cord
and tassel. On the tops of their heads were large hunches
of flowers ; their hack hair was in a queue with tassels
attached, surmounted with gilt hows and ribbons. There
were two equally young girls in red and blue with plainer
headdresses, who in a certain way attended on the others.
The dance began by a subordinate priest or attendant coming
in by a side entrance with a wet branch of the sacred saJcahi-
tree in his hand. After bowing to the shrine he turned to
the visitors, and waved it a few times swiftly before them,
then disappearing. Keturning again to the same entrance, he
handed in to the two hlue-and-red attendants trays of herbs,
rice, and fruits in succession. These were borne, cere-
moniously elevated, to the six priestesses, who conveyed them
in a similar manner to the altar, placing the contents of the
first two trays upon an inner altar, and those of the remain-
ing four upon an outer one, returning the trays to their two
attendants, who passed them out of the building.

While this was proceeding, the hand sent forth what
sounded to me as wailing, imploring, importunate sounds, with
an occasional blow upon the drum for emphasis. The priest,
who wore the ancient headdress, like that of the Mikado,
now rose, and after a few obeisances before the mirror sat
down (upon his heels) facing the altar, and intoned a prayer,
or norito, from a large sheet of paper held outspread before
him, the musicians and dancers and attendants all sitting with
bowed heads to its end. Small branches of sahald were now
brought to the priestesses, and the dance took place, to the
accompaniment of livelier music than before, the dance

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

253

comprising no very active movements, consisting mainly of
short, slow, and grave promenadings, with occasional stately
bowings, and much slow waving of the branches. This
over, a boy entered dressed in the military undress robes of
a huge (court noble) of the olden times, and holding in his
hands a branch of sahahi, with a pendant hoop, doubtless
in lieu of a mirror. He danced, as it is called, to much
louder music, hut the dancing was little more than further
promenading and making certain sweeping movements
with the sahahi-hmiiGh., with an occasional high step. Of
course it is a great pity for the significance, if any, of all
this to he lost upon me and my readers, hut nothing ex-
planatory could he elicited from any of the Japanese present,
and from the answers of the priests I infer that if the
various movements of these dances ever had any great and
special significance, the remembrance of it is pretty nearly
or quite lost. The priest next came forward again, and,
after elevating the written prayer a few times before the
shrine, left the building by the side door. The process of
placing the fruits, etc., upon the altar was now reversed,
and everything was removed from the altars and taken away,
the music the while playing loud and joyous strains. With
this ended the most ancient of the dances in the most sacred
of the purely national shrines of Japan.

The priests who had accompanied us round the temples
were good enough to present me, in addition to the plans
already mentioned, with a drawing of the dance which we
had seen, and some reports of the revenues and expenditures
of the temples. The priests number fifty-nine in the two
temples. Later in the day they kindly sent me a drawing
of the house we were staying in at Fruichi, and a Uji cup
each for my son and myself, as further memorials of the
place. Before leaving the grounds of this temple we
obtained some of the papers such as other pilgrims take
away as tokens of their pilgrimage, so that all the objects in
view in our visit to the Ise shrines were now fulfilled. It
was not possible, however, to leave these ancient woods, con-
secrated by the cares and prayers and pilgrimages of

254

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

millions upon millions of these good and kindly Japanese
people, and with such an air of antiquity about the great
broad-hased, high-towering, time-worn trees, without once
more wandering a while in their solemn shade. At last we
passed out by a side road into the world of shops and follies
which had forced itself up to the very gates, and there for the
first and only time in Japan we found the touting system was
in full play. It was confined, however, to the first few shops,
and as the touters were pretty, nicely attired girls, one
•soon forgave them, and entered into both the shops and the
follies like any other pilgrim. Then, betaking ourselves to
our jinrilci-slias, we returned home to Fruichi, only stop-
ping once to enter for a moment or two one of the many
places of amusement for pilgrims which exist near the
shrines, both in the villages and on the highway.

Some of the party who shared with us this visit to the
ancient temples of Ise seemed disappointed that we should
have had to go so far and see so little. But upon me their
effect was more impressive than anything of the kind which
I had seen in Japan. I suppose this was in part, at least, due
to the fact that we were there in undoubted contact with the
ancient life and the ancient faith of the country. However
mythical may have been the origin of the Shinto religion,
wherever the mirror may have come from, whatever the
degree in which the historic and the legendary may have
been mixed in the stories of the early Mikados, these
temples undoubtedly were for age after age, and century
after century, before Buddhism was known here, the objects
to which the thoughts of every Japanese and the steps of mil-
lions were directed. In fixing the dates which I have given, I
have followed the only records that profess, so far as I know,
to be authentic, and they are those given, I believe, although
sometimes with reserve, in all hooks now published on the
subject. At the same time I do not ask the reader to accept
them without some modification, and for the reason that to
make them good some of the subsequent Mikados must have
lived, as stated in a former chapter, to ages which, if not
absolutely impossible, as many will pronounce them, are

CHAP. X.]

TEE SAC BED SHIUNES OF ISE.

255

certainly improbable. Siijin-Tenno, wlio was the first to pass
the sacred mirror out of his keeping, is said to have died
at the age of one hundred and nineteen. Suinin-Tenno,
who succeeded him, and ordered the building of this temple
at Uji, lived to such an age that he must have been ready
on entering it to exclaim with Tithonus —

‘"Cold my wrinkled feet

Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam
; Floats up from those dim fields about the homes
Of happy men that have the power to die.

And grassy barrows of the happier dead.”

He was one hundred and forty-one years old when released.
His successor, Keiko-Tenno, is credited with a still longer
life, dying at the age of one hundred and forty-three. Still
whatever errors of chronology may have got into these early
records, here at the Uji and Yamada temples we are in un-
doubted contact with the earliest historic embodiments of the
Shinto faith, and look upon buildings exactly like those of
Japan at the commencement of the Christian era. Along
the roads over which we travelled, into the woods which we
entered, up the hillside which we ascended, men and women
had been coming and going through many generations, with
this religion and shrines like these their only religion and
their only shrines, just, as we saw them coming and going
to-day. Yes, still they come and still they go, caring, hear-
ing, knowing nothing of all that which we at home consider
to be the very essence of our faith, and without which many
declare real religion to be impossible. He that runs may
read the moral.

Although going late to bed on the evening of the shrine-
visitations, so to speak, we had to be up and at breakfast by
six the next morning, Friday the 7th of March (in order to
allow the servants to pack our luggage and such articles of
domestic use and provisions as were carried about for our
convenience), and therefore at half past five I was aroused by
the throwing open of the sliding sides of the house, and the
letting in of the morning light. And how much more than
mere light was let in ! So beautiful was the landscape dis-

256

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

played that even the native servants were loud in their
expressions of admiration. It was “A Study in Blue and
Gold ” worthy of the name : the “ gold ” was the sky steeped
in the up-streaming splendour of the sun, as yet itself unseen ;
the “ blue ” was the thin veil of vapour drawn across the
deep and branching valleys, woven of the night-mists and
the dawn. And there was very much more than the blue
and the gold : there were dark hills below the one and above
the other ; there were the rice-swamps gleaming like mirrors
between the mists and us ; there were trees and wooded islands
rising softly out of the mists ; and there were many other
beauties, so pure, so delicate, so tender that I dare not blur
and injure them by attempting to paint them with my poor
pen. Ah me ! yesterday was spent at the shrines of a
mythic relic of the sun-goddess of J apan ; this day opens
with the rising of the sun-goddess herself — sun-goddess not
of Japan only, hut of every land, and of many another world
besides ours ! And yet no goddess she ! Our sun in all its
glory is hut one of the countless myriads of lights that blaze
for ever in the Temple of Immortal Splendour wherein it is
our privilege to worship. In that temple there is no shrine,
for the deity penetrates every part of it — no music, for its
silence is more impressive than any sounds — no dances, for
the mystic mazes of the starry motions are for ever unfolding
themselves — no priests, for its only devotions are the love
and the pursuit and the possession of truth. But, alas !
alas ! a temple like this, always open and always present,
does not suit the multitudes of men. They must have books
and hits of paper, and singings and fifings and drum-heat-
ings, and clappings of hands, and standings up and kneel-
ings down, and bowings and facings about, and creeds and
formularies, and litanies and noritos, and a thousand other
inventions and contrivances ; and what they demand in that
Avay there are always plenty to supply them with in this
and every country, and in this and every age.

At 7 A.M. our imposing procession of jinrihi-shas was once
more in movement and rattling hack to the Miyagawa.
Very pretty was the crossing of the river in the ferry-boats

CHAP. X.]

THE SA CUED JSHUINES OF USE.

257

in the early morning light, with the banks again crowded
by the cheerful country people ; and very pretty also the
picture afterwards formed while we were walking for a
mile along the bank of the river — formed of our little
carriages with their brightly painted surfaces and brass
fittings, their red rugs, and their men chiefly in blue, with
a village hard by flying a few flags, and massing a little
crowd of its populace as a background for our picturesque
party. A blue sky bent above, a bright sun shone down,
a fresh breeze blew past, and everybody present seemed to
share in the exhilaration of the hour — everybody except the
passing pilgrims going shrinewards, who, as they neared the
object of their long marchings and toilings, appeared to give
way somewhat to their weariness ; so at least I fancied. But
the pretty picture was speedily broken up when we reached
the group of jmriJd-sJias, and away we went again, to the
monotonous music of the men who dragged us along. I
often tried to catch the words they employ in the partly
choral and partly responsive noises which they make, but
they are usually too indefinite, not to say inarticulate, for
me to be sure of them. On the way to these Ise shrines,
however, on a wet afternoon, I was successful in distinguish-
ing clearly the burden of their song, or rather of two of
their songs. One was, as well as I can spell it —

“ Ew-y, tow-y, Ew-y, choss ?

Ew-y, tow-y, Ew-y, choss?”

the “ choss ” being spoken in a tone of emphatic inter-
rogative. And the other was —

“ Sherry, sho-y, sherry, clioss ? ”

which I need not write down again, as the reader can repeat
it to himself as often as he finds it amusing. I tried to
discover if these or similar sounds mean anything in par-
ticular, but could not find that they do. If they do, my
readers must kindly remember that I am ignorant of even
elementary Japanese, while these expressions of opinion,
feeling, inquiry, or whatever else it is that they express,

VOL. II. s

258

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

doubtless belong to tbe most recondite refinements of class
language.

Pilgrims, still pilgrims, always pilgrims tbis morning, at
every part of tbe road ! I suppose it is tbe fine and bracing
morning that draws them out and ’along the road to Yamada
and Uji in such numbers. And how interesting it is to
observe their faces as they pass! We speak of sculpture
galleries, and go into artificial ecstasies over the poor ex-
pressionless stones of a Gibson (mostly, though not always,
poor and expressionless, or expressive of something not
worth expressing, as I think), and yet are often without the
faculty of observing the wondrous sculptures of the streets.
Here are people by hundreds, and even thousands, and in
the cities and towns of Japan that we have already passed
through we must have seen many hundreds of thousands of
them, all roughly shaped at first by race, family descent,
climate, soil, food, and other general influences ; and
with all the lighter and finer lines afterwards put in by
personal habits, cares, joys, sorrows, loves, terrors, and all
the thousand other industrious artists whose chisels and
files are for ever toiling away upon the few square inches of
the human face. To me the interest of their works is
inexhaustible, and I know not whether the most interesting
of all are not those faces on which ignorance, want, neglect,
and squalor have wrought their evil work most deeply.

And almost as various as the faces of the pilgrims are their
costumes. Some of the women and girls are almost as gaily
robed as dancing-girls, with costly looking, parti-coloured
dresses, flashing silk leggings, and hair dressed a la mode.
Others shuffle past in colours not less bright, but with
clothes of poorer texture, and, where the leggings are not,
the gloss of nature occasionally gleams through the open
robe. All alike wear open-breasted dresses, discoloration
by sun being but little feared where birth has already done
the bronzing wdiich the sun alone does upon our more
colourless forms. The men are even more variously dressed
than the women. As regards head-preservers, I have already
mentioned that at this wet season of the year even the

CHAP. X.]

THE SACRED SHRINES OF ISE.

259

newest of them, and those most worthy of being displayed,
are usually carried in front or behind, those placed upon the
head being yery few in number. But among the pilgrims,
as among the citizens of the country, in these days of
change, one of the oddest things observable is the frequency
with which the European hat of felt, in its diversified forms,
is worn in connection with the native costume. This per-
haps more than anything else gives to the people of Japan
at the present time that sort of masquerade air of which one
is sensible in moving about among them. But they are, I
venture to believe, wise in their generation in favouring so
much the adoption of a hat of comfortable shape and
material. Excepting a chimney-pot hat which I took with
me hut never once required, I saw none of that description
in Japan, and although there are many Japanese who have
been to Europe who must possess such articles, they never
apparently make use of them. I trust the use of the felt
hat will have a great effect in furthering the abolition of
the habit of shaving the head which is so very general in
the country among the men and the children, and which in
the latter case appears to be attended with so much injury
and disease of the skin as to make a ’walk in the street
of a city or village quite shocking to a European. But
the pilgrims for the most part carry the straw hat only, and
get up their hair either literally by combing it straight
on end all over, or else, which is much more general, grow
a front tuft of it pretty long, doubling and tying it down
flat, with a part of the head shaved on either side of it as
before described. This last is the style of the common
people generally, so far as I have seen them. It is, however,
a usual thing for all the side and back hair to be worn very
long and hanging loosely about the neck. The travelling
upper robes are worn short by the men, who either wear
tight-fitting blue trousers or no trousers at all, the sub-
stitute being in that case a very scanty article in white
linen, imitated from the fashion adopted by ‘‘ the grand old
gardener and his wife ” after they became sinful, and had
compromised us all so sadly. As regards protections for the

260

JAPAN.

[chap. X.

feet, the pilgrim fashion was most frequently to do without
them, or to wear straw soles attached to the feet by straw
strings, the opportunities for purchasing which were abun-
dant in every village. In some cases, as among the better-
to-do people usually, a thick white sock was worn for
household use, with a wooden clog or patten for road use.
Most of the jhlgrims, both men and women, carried a walking-
staff in their right hand, and over the left shoulder a longer
staff with a small parcel or two attached. The pilgrims
returning from the shrines carry bundles of the charms and
remembrances which they obtain there, slinging them round
their necks. The ages of these religious people varied from
those of young and blooming girls to those of the most
decrepit old Tithonuses that ever shuffled one foot before
the other. Poor old souls ! poor young souls ! After
plodding their weary way, perhaps for many a hundred
miles, they knelt or sat before the white veil, threw down
their little coin or paper of coins, uttered their brief prayer,
bought a little bit of paper and a stick or two, and wandered
off back again, let us hope in every case with a sure and
certain ‘‘ hope ” of something, if with nothing more. 0 ye
gods of earth, how easily ye have your way with us poor
mortals ! But seldom indeed are ye more gentle, more
merciful, more easy with us than at these shrines of Ise.
Ofttimes in other lands ye sit with your monstrous
brazen faces, your triple heads, your thousand hands, your
grinning dragons, your glaring beasts, your demoniac
gatekeepers, demanding, many of you, not sacrifices of
the people’s food alone, but feasts of flesh and libations
of blood, and offerings of the very lives of those who wor-
ship you. But here, at these ancient aboriginal shrines of
the Sunrise Land, whither these poor wretches toil, no
monstrous idol, no grinning demon, no red-handed priest
with sacrificial steel awaits them ; but a simple mirror,
hidden in the simplest of all buildings, and screened by
a simple veil of white, is all that their deities, here at
least, employ to represent and to impress upon them their
faith. That they shall lave their hands in pure water, and

CHAP. X.]

THE E AC RED SHRINES OF TSE.

261

throw clown upon the open earth in front of the veil some
coin, is expected of them ; hut these are the only ceremonial
and the only sacrifice that the gods impose on them, and,
these fulfilled, their own hearts are left free to utter the
prayer, and, better still, to inspire the prophecy which is
lienceforth to resound from this the most sacred spot on
earth to them.

GOLD FISH OF NAGOYA CASTLE.

262

JAPAN.

[chap. x[.

CHAPTEE XI.

NAGOYA AND THE SHRINE OF THE SACRED SWORD.

The town of Tsii — An attack of illness in Yokkaichi — Amateur artists —
Habits of the Japanese- — Mountain scenery — Sail on a river — The town
of Miya — The Atsuta shrine — The sacred sword “ Cloud Cluster ’’ —
Yamato-Dake — His expedition against the Ainos — The name of the
sword changed to Grass-mower ” — Native history of the sacred sword
— Estimation in which swords are held in Japan — Their forms and
qualities — Sword-making a profession of honour — Sword inscriptions —
Etiquette of the sword — The city of Nagoya — A banquet and an ex-
hibition of porcelain — Amateur drawings and writings — Nagoya Castle
— Its towers surmounted with golden fishes — An attempt to steal them
— History of the castle — Kato Kiyomasa, its designer — Palace of the
Shogun.

The town of Ano, or Tsii, in the province of Ise, in the Miya
Ken, at which our first half-day’s journey from Fruichi was
to end, is one of considerable importance. The number of
its houses is 5255, and that of its inhabitants 22,489,
about one thousand of whom are Shizoku, most of them
holding Eoku Keng (pension bonds) from the government,
the interests of which they live on. The remainder are
merchants and labourers, the former being the greater
in number. This province was formerly owned by the
Todo-Uji (House of Todos), and here they resided with
their retainers. At that time the number of people was
great and daily increasing, so that the town was prosperous.
But after the change of the government from Han to Ken,
the lord of the province removed to Tokio, and made Kwo-
zoku of the Tokio-Fu his seat; the trade of the place then
became depressed, in consequence of the scarcity of pur-
chases by the samurai, and of the decrease of the people.

CHAP. XI.] NAGOYA — SIIEINE OF SACRED SWORD. 263

By degrees the town was thus made dull, and less inviting
than before. Now, however, with the founding of the
government offices, judicial departments, and school for
teachers (Shi hang Gakko), the place is again populated with
officials and students, and the town being on the highway
of the Ise Dai-jingo, or pilgrims, is constantly visited by the
passers to and from, to the number of more than a hundred
thousand people yearly. The people from the provinces of
Amooki, Ichisi, and other places also frequently visit this town
to make purchases, and fish of different sorts are brought to
market here, so that Tsu is now resuming its former liveli-
ness and prosperity. On our arrival there the mayor of the
Ken was good enough to receive us, in a building facing the
castle,* and on the bank of the castle moat. Here we took
luncheon and a brief rest, soon resuming our journey towards
Yokkaichi, where we arrived long before sundown, taking
up quarters prepared for us at an inn in which the trouble
had been taken to build an additional small room or two for
the supply of such extra accommodation as was presumed to
be essential to Europeans. Our main rooms w^ere, however,
essentially Japanese, and unfortunately I had a longer
opportunity of studying them than was anticipated or de-

* During the years of Airoku,
Hosono-Ikino-kami-Fugi-Atsi erec-
ted this castle. In the eleventh year
of Airoku (15G8 a.u.) a part of the
province v\as conquered by Ota No-
bunaga, Lord of the Gitfu Castle,
who took possession of the castle and
placed Ota Kamongnosuke Tada Hiro
in command of the frontier, and re-
turned to Gitfu. In the tvvellth year
of Airoku (15(39 a.d.) Ota Kazuke-
nosuke Nobukaue succeeded Ka-
mongnosuke. • In the eighth year of
Tengshoo (1580 a.d.) Nobukane
erected a five-storied pagoda in the
•castle. In the eleventh year of
Tengshoo (1583 a.d.) Tomita Shi-
nano - no - kami Tomonobu became
lord of the castle, and afterwards

removed to Ji-iyo. In tlie thirteenth
year of Kei-cho (1608 a.d.) Todo-
Izumi-no-kami Takatora (from Ji-iyo)
was made lord of the castle and occu-
pied it, when repairs and alterations
were made. During the years of
Genna (the first year of Genna was
1615 A.D.) the moat surrounding the
castle in and out were made. At
that time the lord of the castle’s
receipt was 323,950 holms per annum
(each holm nearly five imperial
bushels). In the fourth year of
Meiji (1871 a.d.) the government
was changed. Hang made into
Keng ; and the castle has since been
used as barracks for the Osaka gar-
rison.

264

JAPAN,

[CJIAP. XI.

sired. At midnight, after writing for three or fonr hours, I
rose to jirepare for bed, hut found rising no e^^"m^ter ;
whether from the long journeys in the jinrihi-slias, or from
a violent rheumatic attack, 1 knew not (and even now can
only conjecture), I found myself in extreme pain in the
muscles and nerves of the hack as soon as I attempted to
move. It was impossible to help myself beyond calling for
assistance, and with that assistance.! was got to bed. On
Tuesday, the day of starting from Kioto, we had travelled in
these little jolting hand-carriages nearly forty miles; on
Wednesday about thirty-five miles ; on Thursday, more than
twenty ; and on this day, Friday, nearly forty miles, the
intervals of travelling being, perhaps, too much occujued
with sitting at a writing-table. However, after having the
best that could he done for me without medical aid during
the night, doctors of experience were telegraphed for from
Tsu and from the city of Nagoya, the former, a native
gentleman, having nearly twenty miles of road to travel, and
the latter, a German professor. Dr. Eoretz, an almost equal
distance. Both were most friendly and attentive, and with
their kind personal assistance, extended over three days of
pain, I was able to start again, on Tuesday the 11th of
]\[arch, for Miya by steamer, and thence to Nagoya.

During my illness presents of fruit were sent by local
persons ; most of the attendance was performed by girls,
whose cheerful presence, it was supposed, would contribute
to the pleasant passing of the idle hours ; and when the
improvement of my health justified it, visitors dropped in
and amused me in various ways. One of the officers of the
adjoining county of Aichi, Mr. Hinoki, who had come over
from ^liya, next Nagoya, to further the arrangements for our
stay there, was kind enough to drop in and draw some
pretty ink pictures, occasionally executing parts of them,
for the amusement of the thing, with a brush held in his
mouth, or in his nostril, or tied to his elbow, or between
his toes, the results in all cases being good, and sometimes
excellent.

This illness of a few days in a purely Japanese inn enabled

niAP. XI.] NAGOYA — SHBTNE OF SACRED SWORD. 265

me to see mncli of tlie mode of life in such places, one of tlie
oddest features of which was the pulling out of the pipe and
tobacco-pouch and the taking of a few whiffs by almost
every one who came to your room, from the native doctor
who was there to prescribe for you, to the woman who fed
your hibachi with charcoal, and the girl who handed you
your cup of tea. Of course I very much regretted delaying
his excellency Admiral Kawamura for three days on the
journey homeward to the seat of government, but his patience
and kindness were inexhaustible.

We left Yokkaichi at 9 a.m., on a morning of great beauty,
judged even from our point of view, viz. that of mere men,
whose only paths lie along the surface of the earth and the
sea, subject to every variation of cloud and breeze belonging
to the mere surface, and often cut off from that splendour

Which o’ersiireads
All noise and tempest.”

I say judged from our point of view, because a little way
up, of course, just above our low and varying clouds, the
splendour of sun-brightness and star-beauty alternately
prevail, undimmed by cloud or storm, and of this mountain
regions frequently remind one. The streets of Yokkaichi were
lined with people, exhibiting unusual interest, it having
become known, doubtless, that our party, including a
minister and two foreigners, had been staying in the town
for several days — an unwonted event. The mayor of the
Ken and the physician from Tsu accompanied us to the
steamer and saw us off. We ’svere in the centre of an
amphitheatre of mountains, with the bay and the level-lands
for the arena. And how beautiful were the mountains ! In
the west, all the way up from Ise in the south to the
north-west of Yokkaichi, the morning light displayed their
jagged outlines and their carved slopes as clearly as if we
had held them in our hands like sea-shells, and observed thus
closely their grooved and chased surfaces. On the north-
east, towering into the very heavens, and more snow-white
than any tent, was the mountain of Komagadake, which we

266

JAPAN.

[chap. XI.

had seen from Ise on the morning of onr quitting the shrines
and towns ; and more to the east the snowy ranges of Ibouki,
with dark peaks and bright peaks, near peaks and distant
j^eaks, rising in such loveliness between and beyond as if
the object of their author had been to sketch a picture rather
than to build a world.

At noon we arrived outside of Miya, which is the port of
and continuous with the great city of Nagoya, and in open
boats, with sails formed of separate strips of linen, after the
fashion of Japan, sailed into and about two miles up the
river to the town. The river approach has obviously been
preserved (from silting up by the river deposits) by arti-
ficial works laboriously carried out and renewed. After a
Japanese luncheon in Miya, we drove a few hundred yards
to the famous Shinto temple of Atsuta, which is supported
by the government, and which is renowned as the depository
of the Sacred Sword, Kusanagi-no-mitzurugi (Grass-mowing
Sword), one of the three emblems of the Shinto faith. We
visited it unexpectedly, hut were well received by the simple-
minded and modest-mannered priests, who answered such
questions as we put, and gave us a written description of the
temple. We stood again in an ancient park, of magnificent
old trees, with several shrines, and with lanterns or light-
pillars innumerable, and before a gateway hung, like those
at Ise, with white veils. Here, however, the veils were
three in number, side by side, and were looped apart in the
middle, to facilitate the viewing of the interior buildings.
There were the pilgrims kneeling and sitting as at Ise, first
washing the hands and throwing down their coins before
uttering their brief prayers, and, let us hope, devising their
prophecies of good. This temple of Atsuta is very ancient,
having been founded, for the purpose of receiving the sacred
sword, in the second century after Christ, by the sister of the
heroic Yamato-Pak^ after he had made a successful war
against the eastern savages by aid of the sword.

The account of the sword given to me at the temple was,
I must admit, a sufficiently clear one, being to the effect
that the sacred weapon had originally belonged to the sun-

CHAP. XI.] NAGOYA — SBRINE OF SACRED SWORD. 267

goddess, Tenslio-Dai-jin, from whom it was stolen by a serpent.
The brother of Tensho, whose name was Susanoo-no-mikoto,
recovered it from the serpent, and it was placed in a shrine
on the sacred spot on which we stood, Tensho approving this
as a very sacred place. At a much later period, viz. the
beginning of the second century, Yamato-Dake, being com-
missioned by his father, the Mikado Keiko, to make war
upon the savage inhabitants of the eastern part of the
country, as previously stated, obtained permission to use the
sacred sword, and after employing it with success deposited
it in this shrine with increased claims to reverence, and ever
since it has remained here, and has naturally enough been
an object of veneration to millions who have come day and
night to bow before it. It must be confessed, however, that
this simple narrative begins to exhibit some legendary
aspects when one remembers that the personage Tensho-
Dai-jin is no other than the bright sun-goddess herself,
that the serpent which carried off the sword had eight heads,
and that Susanod only got the sword back by intoxicating
the monster, slaying him while in his cups, and extracting
the sword from his tail. Even as regards Yamato-Dake,
the story told to us (and told to the pilgrims and inhabitants
of Miya likewise, in a printed paper) would have been more
easily intelligible if one were not otherwise made aware that
in the w^ar against the savages the sword was used by him
to stop a brushwood fire that was overwhelming his army,
by cutting the grass in front of it, and that it likewise drove
back the flames, to the overthrow and rout of the enemy that
had kindled them. Hence the name “ Grass mower.”

But it will be better to give the reader a somewhat fuller
account of the matter which (since writing the last paragraph)
I have found in the short paper on “ The Sword of Japan,”
read at the Asiatic Society of Japan by Mr. T. H. E.
McClatchie, one of the clever and accomplished staff of
secretaries and interpreters by whom our minister, Sir H.
Parkes, is surrounded in the British Embassy at Tokio.
Mr. McClatchie says : “ Saburodaiyu, in his preface to the
‘ Eeference as to New Swords,’ gives a short sketch of the

2G8

JAPAN.

[chap. XI.

Japanese legends regarding the history of the weapon ; and
though his allusions, in connection with his subject, to the
mythology of his country may perhaps provoke a smile, still
they are worthy of note as being the words of an author who
is generally held to he a high authority on the matter of
which he treats. The translation of this sketch reads as
follows : ‘ If we search out in bygone days the origin of the
sword, we find that our country excelled barbarian localities
in regard to metal. In the olden times of the divine period,
when Izanagi and Izanami-no-mikoto, standing upon the
floating bridge of heaven, thrust down their glittering blade
and probed the blue ocean, the drops from its point congealed
and hardened and became an island, after which the deities
created several other islands. These eventually became a
large country composed of eight islands, and amongst the
many names of this country they styled it too the ‘Land
of many blades.’ In its early days there existed the divine
swords To-nigiri and Ya-nigiri. Then, too, when Susanoo-
no-mikoto smote the eight-clawed great dragon, and struck
him on the tail, the sword of the deity became slightly
nicked, and from the inside of the tail he drew out a single
blade. ‘ This,’ said he, ‘ is a marvellous sword,’ and he
caused it to be presented to Tensho-Dai-jin. This was
styled the ‘ Sword of the Clustering Clouds of Heaven,’
and also the ‘ Grass-mowing Sword.’ Should not this
be said to be the commencement of fixing the dates of
swords ? That ‘ Sword of the Clustering Clouds ’ was
made one of the ‘ Three divine jirecious things ’ {i.e. the
seal, sword, and mirror held by the Mikados), it has had no
equal in this country, and, being the gigantic weapon that
watches over it, it is a thing of great dread even to speak
of. Now, when our country had arrived at the heavenly
rule of Sujin-Tenno, the tenth of the mortal emperors, he
feared to dwell in the same palace with the ‘ Divine precious
things,’ and so he caused a person called Amakuni, a man of
the department of Uda, in the province of Yamato, a far-
removed descendant of Me-hitotsu-Gami, to forge an imita-
tion of the sword ; and as for the ‘ Clustering Clouds,’ that

CHAP. XI.] NAGOYA — SHRINE OF SACRED SWORD. 269

had descended from the divine age, he was pleased to offer
it up to the shrine of Tensho-Dai-jin. Under the heavenly
rule of Keiko-Tenno, Yamato-Dake-no-mikoto, at the time
of his expedition against the east, went to pay reverence at
the shrines of Ise. His aunt, Yamato Hime-no-mikoto, was
the resident of the shrine at that period, and she besought
that the divine sword of the ‘ Clustering Clouds ’ might be
handed down to him from the shrine, and so gave it over to
Yamato-Dake-no-mikoto, together with a tinder case attached.
This is said to have been the origin of the custom of fastening
a charm case to a sword as a guardian for children. Yamato-
Dake-no-mikoto, having accomplished the subjugation of the
east, offered up the sword at Atsuta, in the province of
Owari. Up to the present day, the virtue of this sword,
permanent and immutable even unto the end of myriads of
ages, is the guardian of our country and our homes, and the
protector of our own selves. In no way can it be fully
described by the pen ! The second ^ precious sword ’ was
buried in the western seas at the death of Antoku-Tenno
(1185 A.D.).”

This may not be an unsuitable place to speak of the con-
sideration which the sword has received in Japan. Being-
one of the three insignia of the divine authority of the
Mikados, it became to the military class a symbol at once of
their loyalty and their pride. “ Cherished by the samurai
as almost part of his own self, and considered by the common
people as their protector against violence, what wonder,”
says Mr. McClatchie, “ that we should find it spoken of in
glowing terms by Japanese writers as ‘ the precious pos-
session of lord and vassal from times older than the divine
period,’ or as ‘ the living soul of the samurai ’ ? ” The
art of determining the maker and date of a sword-blade
became one of more than ordinary interest, and many
treatises have been written upon it. Those made before
1 603 A.D. are called old swords ; those made since new
swords.

The old form of Japanese sword, or hen, was a long,
straight, double-edged weapon, while the modern sword.

270

JAPAN.

[chap. XI.

Itatana, lias a single edge, and is sliglitly curved, especially
towards tlie point. A short sword or dirk, called the wahi-
zaslii, was until lately worn with the hatana, as a sign of
military or gentle birth. A short dirk without a guard,
known as an aihuclii, was worn by doctors, artists, and persons
of the fourth and fifth rank. Stilettos a foot long or less,
known as tanto and mamori hatana, were sometimes worn by
nobles, ojfficers, and gentlemen in place of the more cumbrous
ivahizaslii. The jintochi was a large two-handed war-sword,
usually borne by a sword-bearer when not in actual use. A
sword of medium size, worn when hunting or rambling in
the country, was called a nodatclii. Another kind, tatclii,
of which there were several styles, was hung by two slings
from the girdle.

The making of swords was considered an honourable pro-
fession, and men of good family were trained to it. It is
mentioned of the emperor Gotaba (1184) that not only did
he “ give directions to the noted smiths of the various
provinces and make them forge, but he also worked with his
own hand ” ; later noted smiths, according to their evidence,
received honorary rank from the court. The decoration and
mounting of swords embraced a large and diversified field of
art, which has been cultivated with distinction for centuries
by some families. Upon the hilt are usually four highly
ornamental metallic pieces — the ferrule on the head of the
hilt, the ring next to the guard, and two pieces covering the
rivet holes, which latter are partly covered by the silk
binding of the hilt. The ferrule and ring are beautifully
made, and ornamented with dragons or other figures hand-
somely wrought in relief, being often of solid gold, the
other two pieces resembling these ornaments. The guard is
often a “ wonderful piece of workmanship in metal,” usually
handsomely and more or less quaintly ornamented, and often
“ worked up with gold, silver, etc., into a detailed picture ”
of battles, hunts, or natural scenery. Passing through the
guard, and sheathing itself in the scabbard, is a narrow
knife or stiletto about eight inches long, even the blade of
which is often beautifully shaped and chased, while the

CHAP. XI.] NAGOYA— SHRINE OF SACRED SWORD. 271

exposed handle is richly ornamented with gold figures to
match those of the hilt.*

The name of the maker of the sword with the date being
engraved on one side of the hilt, upon the other side was
sometimes inscribed a motto or a verse of poetry ; such as

“ There’s nought ’twixt heaven, and earth that man need fear who
carries at his belt this single blade ; ”

or,

“ One’s fate is in the hands of heaven, but a skilful fighter does
not meet with death ; ”

or,

In one’s last days one’s sword becomes the wealth of one’s
posterity.”

Swords often received specific names, and the swords of great
men have been handed down as heirlooms. We saw, as
elsewhere stated, the swords of Yoritomo in the temple of
Hachiman at Kamakura. In an appendix to this volume
I have added some notes on Celebrated Swords and their
makers.

The angle at which the sword was carried in the belt was
an indication of rank, and the etiquette of the sword was
both complex and solemn. “ To clash the sheath of one’s
sword against that belonging to another person was held to
he a grave breach of etiquette ; to turn the sheath in the
belt, as though about to draw, was tantamount to a challenge;
while to lay one’s weapon on the floor of a room, and to
kick the guard with the foot, in the direction of any one
else, was a deadly insult, that generally resulted in a combat
to the death. It was not even thought polite to draw a
sword from its sheath without begging the permission of any
other persons present.” f

* “ The small knife was used to
throw at an enemy, the skewers to
attach the heads of slain enemies
to the girdle.” — Pfoundes.

t See Mr. McClatcliie’s paper
before quoted ; also Mr. Pfoundes’s

Notes. Mr. Pfoundes adds other
particulars of sword etiquette: To

enter a friend’s house without leaving
the sword outside, a breach of friend-
ship. Those whose position justified
the aeoompauiment of an attendant

272

[ciiAr. XI.

From tlie Atsuta temple our jinriki-slias bore us — pre-
ceded by representatives of the civic authorities of
Nagoya — to that celebrated city. Here we were taken to
very comfortable quarters in an hotel (purely Japanese, of
course), and after a short rest proceeded to fulfil an engage-
ment to dine with the governing authorities of the Ken
or county. The governor himself was absent, but his deputy
acted as our host, and performed the office entirely to our
satisfaction and pleasure. The place of the banquet was the
exhibition building. A select display of the beautiful porcelain
ware of Seto (Owari) had been brought together to interest
us. There was much pleasing colouring in the articles
displayed, with fine examples of modern blue and white ”
in a great variety of forms, including temple-lanterns, street
lamps, large decorative plaques, immense bowls and vases,
and other very large examples, together with a choice series

invariably left the sword in his charge
at the entrance, or, if alone, it was
usually laid down at the entrance.
If removed inside it was invariably
done by the host’s servants, and then
not touched with the bare hand, but
with a silk napkin kept for the pur-
pose, and the sword was placed upon
a sword-rack in the place of honour
near the guest, and treated with all
the politeness due to an honoured
visitor who would resent a discourtesy.
The long sword (if two were worn)
was withdrawn, sheathed, from the
girdle with the right hand, and
placed on the right side — an indica-
tion of friendship, as it could not be
drawn and used thus — never by the
left hand, or placed on the left side,
except when in immediate danger of
attack. To exhibit a naked weapon
was a gross insult, urdess when a
gentleman wished to show his friends
his collection. To express a wish to
see a sword was not usual, unless
when a blade of great value was in
question, when a request to be shown
it would bo a compliment the happy

possessor appreciated. The sword
would then be handed with the back
towards the guest, the edge turned
towards the owner and the hilt to the
left, the guest wrapping the hilt
either in the little silk napkin always
carried by gentlemen in their pocket-
books, or in a sheet of clean paper.
The weapon was diawn from the
scabbard and admired inch by inch,
but not to the full length unless the
owner pressed his guest to do so,
when, with much apology, the sword
vas entirely drawn and held away
fiom the other persons present. After
being admired, it would, if apparently
necessary, be carefully wiped with a
special cloth, sheathed, and returned
to the owner as before. The short
sword was retained in the girdle, but
at a prolonged visit both host and guest
laid it aside. Women did not wear
swords in their girdle by right or
fashion, although when travelling
alone it was often done. On the
occasion of tires, the ladies of the
palace sometimes placed side-arms in
their girdles.

Girl. to face page 273, ^ol.Il.

CHAP. XI.] NAGO YA — SHRINE OF SA OR ED S WORD. 273

of articles of a smaller kind, and of purely Japanese design.
The exhibition comprised some remarkable examples of
modern porcelain, made in imitation of the old China ware
which now is deemed of so much value ; and also examples
of vases with ornaments in relief, Dresden fashion, of great
beauty and merit. Although these porcelain manufactures
are mainly the productions of Seto, which is about ten miles
from Nagoya, the artists employed upon them are chiefly
resident in Nagoya itself ; and the Owari district generally
is famous for its porcelain productions. There was also
exhibited a complete set of models, showing the appliances
used in the manufacture from rice of the national wine or
spirit, saJce, the processes being explained to us by a manu-
facturer. At the banquet several of the officials and merchants
of the city were present, and gave us a cordial welcome. In
the course of the evening there was national music and
dancing, and later on the vice-governor and some of the
other officers and residents of the city were so kind as to
make for me, offhand, at my request, some of those rough
but very effective drawings and writings which, more than
anything else, exhibit the national style both of drawing and
of writing, and the close relationship of the one to the other.
On leaving the entertainment at ten o’clock, we found many
of the shops and stalls of the city still open, and flowing
down on these, and us, and everything, the silent glory of
the rising moon.

Next day — it being in contemplation to travel about forty-
five miles along the Tokaido on the following day (the state
of my muscular and nervous systems, which were far from
satisfactory as yet, permitting) — we limited our enterprises
to a visit to the famous castle, the finest of those now
remaining in Japan, and to an inspection of the military
establishments now existing there. The castle proved to be
extremely interesting, as it contained, in a fair state of pre-
servation, not only the largest tower or castle proper still
remaining in Japan, but also a palace built and decorated for
the accommodation, under the old system, of the Tycoon
during his visits to Nagoya. In Tokio the largest tower of

VOL. II.

274

JAPAN.

[chap. XI.

the Tycoon’s castle has, with its other hihldings, ceased to
exist, and from Osaka Castle likewise the great tower has dis-
appeared. In Nagoya Castle the towers exist and are in good
condition, the great tower being a peculiarly fine and lofty
edifice, surmounted with two large glittering fish, standing
8J feet in height, and covered with plates of gold. In
1872 the last possessor of the castle presented these fish to
the Mikado for preservation in his palace (the gold plates
upon them having cost £6000), and one of them was after-
wards sent to the Vienna Exhibition. On its passage hack
the vessel containing it was wrecked on the coast • of
Japan, hut the treasure was afterwards recovered. The in-
habitants of Nagoya not unnaturally desired to have these
golden fish restored to their former position as ornaments of
their tower and town, and his majesty having approved of the
request, they now, to use a local phrase, “ bathe the city in
their brightness.” It is related that on one occasion, many
years ago, an attempt was made to obtain possession of the
gold scales of these aerial creatures by a man who raised
himself up to them for the purpose by means of an immense
kite in a gale of wind at night ; he was, however, detected,
and boiled in oil for his pains. It is further said that the
making of very large kites was afterwards prohibited through-
out the district of Owari as a protection to these valuable
objects.

This castle, according to the information given me on the
spot, was built about two hundred and seventy years ago by
the seventh son of the great Shogun lyeyasu (first of the
Tokugawas), more than twenty Daimios contributing towards
its cost, as a compliment paid to the Shogun and his family.*

* The following account of the
buildiog of Nagoya Castle is given by
Mr. W. T. Dixon, in a paper read be-
fore the Asiatic Society of Japan:
“ It was built in the year 1610 a.d.,
for Yoshinawo, the first prince of the
Tokugawa house in Owari, and the
seventh son of lyeyasu For some
two centuries before that date there

had been a castle of Owari, situated
at Kiyosu, a few miles west of Nagoya.
This was founded by a Daimio named
Shiba Takatsune, a near relative of
the Shogun Ashikaga, and remained
in the possession of his descendants
until the end of the sixteenth century,
when it was seized by Ota Nobunaga,
and made by that famous warrior the

CHAP. XI.] NAGOYA — SHRINE OF SACRED SWOBD. 275

The main tower was designed by the general Kato Kiyomasa,
who, according to Mr. Griffis (‘ Mikado’s Empire ’), was a
very ill-conditioned fellow indeed, who wore a helmet
three feet high, quarrelled with his brother officers, inscribed
prayers on his banners, became a member of the Nicheren
sect, and a bloody persecutor of the Christians in the
sixteenth century.” He appears, however, to have been a
skilful architect of castles, if one may infer this from the
style and construction of this great tower at Nagoya, and
from the fact that he designed also the castle of Kumamoto,
in Kiushiu, which I have seen described as another of the
finest in Japan. He is now a deified personage, and some of
my Japanese friends to whom I have spoken respecting him
assure me that his colleague in the Korean expedition, with
whom he refused to act cordially, was really a most objec-
tionable individual ; that the so-called Christians whom Kato
Kiyomasa is said to have persecuted were of a bad sort ; and
that he is worthily worshipped as a great and good patriot, and
now one of the gods of Japan, by a very large number of the
Japanese people. It is not to he expected that I should
decide between these opposite views of his character in a
mere gossip about a tower of his design ; so I will pass on to
say that Nagoya Castle stands upon about four hundred acres
of ground ; that it is protected by two moats, with the power
of inundating the country at the back of it, where its defence

centre from which to keep in check
the neighbouring provinces. Some
years afterwards, Tokugawa lyeyasu,
having survived all his rivals, recog-
nised that his authority would be
more secure if Owari, lying as it did
at the junction of the two great high-
ways between Kiyoto and Yedo, were
defended by a strong castle. He
would thus have more command over
the western Daimios, some of whom
had not yet acknowledged his sw’ay.
The castle at Kiyosu was found quite
insufficient, on account both of its
limited size and of the shallowness
of its moats ; so he resolved to build a

new and more formidable one, and
fixed upon the present site at Nagoya
as the most advantageous for his pur-
pose. Several Duimios,the principal
of whom were Fukushima Masanoii,
prince of Aki, Kato Kiyomasa, prince
of Higo, and Kuroda Nagamasa,
prince of Chikuzen, were, after some
threatening, prevailed upon to under-
take the task. The materials of the
old fortress of Kiyosu helped to com-
pose the new stronghold, and it is
said that 200,000 men were employed,
who finished the work of erection in
a few weeks.”

T 2

276

JAPAN.

[chap. XI.

is obviously weak ; that it was until lately the castle of one
of three of the most powerful Daimios in Japan, who as
members of the Tycoon’s family enjoyed many important and
exclusive privileges, and that although part of its inclosure
is now used for military purposes, another part is devoted to
the growth of vegetables, which is probably a better use, in
some respects, than was ever before made of it. We ascended
Kato’s tower to the top floor, and obtained an extensive view
over the city and its suburbs, and for some miles of fruitful
ground around, but the atmosphere was not clear enough to
admit of a view of the mountains in either direction. It may
be interesting to mention that the plan adopted in the
designing of this tower was to make the area of the lowest
floor one thousand “ mats,” that of the next floor five
hundred, the others decreasing upwards by a hundred mats
per floor, the upper being of one hundred mats only. The
mat ” is a rectangle of about three feet by six feet, that
being the size given to the single piece of the matting in use
as the floor-covering throughout Japan. The sizes of rooms
are usually given in mats. A fine model of the great tower,
constructed before the tower • itself was built, and therefore
nearly three hundred years old, was shown to us in the
Shogun’s palace, and is in perfectly good condition. The
palace of the Tycoon, though intended for occasional occupa-
tion only, was of a far more costly character, both in its
construction and in its decorations, than that of the Mikado
at Kioto. The ceilings are panelled and decorated with some
of the most refined artists’ work that I have seen in Japan,
while the carved work is lavish alike in its abundance and its
beauty. This palace seems to furnish an illustration of the
accuracy of those who tell us that under the system of
government which the Tycoons gradually brought about the
Mikado, the true emperor, was kept in a state of comparative
weakness, meanness, and privation, while the Tycoon revelled
in wealth, splendour, and power.

( 277 )

CHAPTER XII.

TO shidzuoka: the home of the tokugawas.

Early departure from Nagoya — The great Tokaido road — Monument to
“ the Shogun of three days ” — Okazaki, the birthplace of lyeyasu —
Yosbida — A famous artist — Our picturesque procession — Miraculous
appearance of the goddess Kwannon — A colossal statue to the goddess
— Fuji-yama again — A shrine of splendour — Beauty of the sea — The
gate of Aral — The fishers of Mayezaka — Bridge over the Tenriu, 4000
feet long — A windy day in the hills — Kagos^ or mountain chairs —
Swiss-like scenery — A scene for artists — A tunnel through a mountain
— Shidzuoka — Lacquer, inlaid, and bamboo work — Japanese tea-culti-
vation— Large exports of tea — lyeyasu’s love of literature — The last of
the Tycoons — A picture painted by him — An eminent litterateur —
Legends of the Night-crying Stone, the Sworded Pheasant, and the
Wishing Bell.

Our long land journey from the old capital (Kioto) to the
new (Tokio) was resumed on Thursday, March 13, at 7 a.m.
The later hours of the previous day had been devoted to
drenching rains outside and rest indoors, but the saving
of time was a matter of so much importance to me, and the
delays occasioned by my illness were tending to so much
congestion of duties, if I may so speak, in both Japan and
England, that we decided to start at an early hour next
morning, rain or sun, showers or torrents. Happily the
morning broke fine, with little or no sunshine, but with a
dry atmosphere, the rain wholly gone. Early as it was, the
vice-governor was kindly there to take leave of us, and, with
many little arrangements for enabling a rheumatic individual
of a certain age to make a journey of forty-five miles in a
hand-carriage without too much distress, off we went. All
the shops and places of business appeared to be open and in
operation as we rattled through Nagoya and Miya, although

278

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

the hour was so early. There were several very pretty
gateways in Miya which I should have been glad to have
sketched had time allowed, hut a passing glance was all we
could devote to them. The shrines of Atsuta, with their
mystic sword, their towering trees, their crowded light-
pillars and simple ceremonies, were soon passed and left
behind, and behind us likewise loomed up the great Hon-
ganji temple, and beyond, the mountains — mountain-shrines,
shall we call them ? — hung with curtain-screens like Atsuta,
but in this case the screens were blue, and wrought of
valley mist and morning light. Numerous temples, and
still more numerous shrines much simpler than temjdes,
were passed during the day, and at many of them, here as
elsewhere, the stone basins in front of them for the washing
of the hands received their water from spouting bronze
dragons of considerable size and much artistic merit.

Soon after leaving Miya we were again upon the great
Tokaido road, which throughout the day, as on some former
days, was a fine, smooth, well-kept road between the towns
and the villages, hut was much neglected where it passed
through them— a point which would seepi to require some
attention on the part of both the central and local governments.
The road traversed by bridges several large rivers, the beds of
which were raised above the neighbouring land-level by as
much as 10 feet. After a short halt at the town of Narumi,
where cotton-sjiinning is carried on, and transit through
another in which dyeing is successfully practised, we passed
through the famous battle-field in which the great Shogun of
three days, so to call him, Yoshimoto, engaged the redoubtable
Nohunaga in the sixteenth century, and was defeated by
him and killed.* A monument to his (Yoshimoto’s) memory
was passed in a field on our right — a simple column of stone,
surrounded by a railing of wood. Luncheon was taken at
the town of Okazaki, the birthplace of lyeyasu, at which are
the great granite quarries from which the capital, Tokio,
and many other places, are provided with that stone ; the

* See vol. i. p. 185.

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE TOKUOAWAS.

279

nearness of Okazaki to the bay of Owari and its branches
greatly facilitating the supply of this stone to towns and
cities near the coast. The remainder of the day’s journey
was completed at four o’clock in the apparently thriving
town of Yoshida, which is situated on a branch of the great
river Tenriu, which finds its way into the sea further east-
ward. This town does a considerable trade in timber,
most of the roof-rafters for Tokio going hence. After the
drive of forty-five miles a stroll in the town to the river bank
and flower garden was a pleasant change. After dinner a
gentleman, Mr. Watanahe Shoka, of great local fame as an
artist, and considered by some of our party as one of the
first now living in Japan, did us the honour of dropping in
and helping to pass a wet evening pleasantly by knocking
off a few large rough sketches of birds, each drawing being
executed in times varying from five to ten minutes only.
In this pleasing pastime he was joined by Mr. Hinoke, from
Nagoya, who had accompanied us thus far, and who, like his
friend just mentioned, possesses wonderful skill in producing
fine effects with a few daubs and touches of the brush. I
observed that in putting in trees and certain parts of birds
Mr. Watanahe Shoka frequently employed two brushes simul-
taneously. I have seen a good deal of rapid sketching and
drawing at different times, hut with the exception of my
friend Chevalier de Martino, the painter of great naval
pictures, who is surprisingly skilled in the swift use of the
ink-brush, I know no one who approaches Mr. Watanahe
Shoka.

Early on Friday the 14th of March, after another night
of rain, we pursued our journey eastward, in an atmosphere of
delightful freshness, in a north-western breeze of consider-
able force, and in sunshine that made the morning perfect.
We were soon skirting on our left ranges of wooded hills,
rolling away to mountains in the distance. I was informed
that on one of the finest and most sheer and lofty of these
high wooded hills there was a temple. I had chosen a
position in the procession of jinrihi-shas well to the rear,
so that I had before me the shifting picture of more than a

280

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

dozen of these curious little carriages, with double that
number of half-nude men trotting them along at a rate of
six to seven miles an hour, their red and blue colours dancing
with their movements, and little flags surmounted with
bunches of bright heather, or something like it, waving
at the side of each carriage. Among the villages passed
through was one named Surazaga, concerning which we were
told a little story to this effect. On a certain occasion the
prince of Bizen, travelling on the Tokaido, stayed to sleep
in this village. During his slumher a vision appeared to
him — no other than that of the goddess Kwannon herself,
in the guise of a priest, who woke him and told him to
escape for his life, as the village would be flooded during
the night. He accordingly arose and made his way in all
haste to a neighbouring hill called Siomizaka (“ the Height
with a View of the Sea ”), and sure enough the flood came,
the village was inundated, and many of the inhabitants were
drowned. This is the whole of the story as I heard it, hut
as it appeared to have been recounted to my informant by
one of the jlnrihi-sha men it may have been hut imperfectly
told. Under other circumstances one might have been
tempted to consider the prince of Bizen a very selfish sort
of personage to leave the poor villagers to perish, he himself
meanwhile escaping to a high hill ; and having seen a short
time afterwards how very high the hill is, one might further
have inferred that Prince Bizen must have been very frightened
indeed to have gone up so far. One might also have observed
that the selfishness of the prince was matched by the negli-
gence of the goddess, who appears to have cared only for the
prince, and to have forgotten all about the people, who lost
their lives for want of a warning similar to his. Further,
how came the goddess to appear as a priest ? If she wished
to he taken for a priest, why was not her disguise effectual ?
If she intended to allow herself to he known, why did she
assume the appearance of a priest? One might even ask
whether, after all, it was not really a priest, and no goddess,
who gave the warning, and whether the name of Kwannon
was not taken in vain by the individual, whoever he was,

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE TOKUOAWAS.

281

who asserted that she had anything to do with the matter.
But it is possible that all these seeming weaknesses are only
in the story as it reached me, and that the priest was really
the goddess, satisfactory evidence establishing the identi-
fication. The only difficulty remaining in that case would
be the neglect of the poor inhabitants by the goddess, but
that difficulty is as old as miraculous appearances themselves,
the wonder always being in such cases that the gods and the
goddesses and the virgins and the angels and the saints who
from time to time come on earth to give private warnings to
individuals should be so very, very callous as to those whom
they do not warn, and who would be as grateful, if they
could afford it, as the prince of Bizen himself. And grateful
indeed he was, for when we came to Siomizaka, there, on the
high cluster of granite rocks, several hundred feet above us,
and on a summit to which it would be difficult to lift even a
living and breathing life-size goddess, was a large bronze
statue of Kwannon 13 feet high, gazing over land and
over the sea, which we know by the name to be within her
view, though we could not see it, and apparently not a
little proud of her elevation — proud in the very presence of
the sun-goddess herself, who, indeed, did not disdain to
adorn her brazen brow with a touch of her own bright light.

Leaving the goddess to her lofty meditations, we rolled on
through a fine country, very wild, and wooded and moun-
tainous on our left, and very level, and cultivated and glisten-
ing with rice-swamps on our right. The road next led us uj)
a succession of long hills, in ascending which I gladly availed
myself of the opportunity thus afforded for a delightful
morning walk. Presently we came out for a short time upon
a comparatively open road, and a shrill voice exclaimed,
‘‘ Fuji-yama ! ” and there indeed, somewhat away on our left
(broad on our port bow, as a sailor would put it), was the
superb mountain which we had not seen for five weeks, and
which, as it now stood up, nearly ninety miles off, above the
nearer and darker mountains — stood up, whiter with snow
than if wrought of silver, purer than the very sky into
which it towered, and more perfect in form than any mortal

282

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

hands could model — was a shrine of splendour worthy of the
true God, and a consecration to the land which is so fortunate
as to form its pedestal. It was a native gentleman who saw
it first ; not a poet, not an artist, not a seer of any sort ; but
he was a man, and a Japanese, and he clapped his hands and
shouted with delight, and with the joy of seeing once again
the sacred mountain, and of turning the eyes of us strangers
towards it.

While we gazed with wonder and almost with worship upon
this “most awful Form,” another voice shouted “The sea !” and
there on our right lay before us, and low beneath us, and rolling
far away over the horizon’s arc, the living liquid splendour of
the sea indeed. “ Isn’t it just like gauze ! ” shouted another
of the party from a distance ; and, although one feels some
reluctance to associate with the ocean the name of so frail a
thing as gauze, yet there was so soft and semi-transparent
and delicate a look about the sea on this occasion, viewed
from our height, that one felt the verisimilitude of the
metaphor. I never before saw the sea so utterly beautiful.
I have often hung above its splendour ; often listened to its
alluring music on the shore, and its power of fioating great
ships with truth and certainty has always had a certain
charm for me — a charm at which those may laugh who are
insensible to that viewless grace which lurks in all the
ways, and paths of science. On the way out to Japan, on
the very part of the sea upon which we were now looking
down, we passed some hours in admiring the intense colour
of the sea-deeps and the pure whiteness of the surface as it
was torn into fragments by the gale ; hut on this sun-bright
morning, on which the breeze seemed saturate with sun, and
the sun blown through with breeze, both sun and breeze
seemed to mix with the sea, until the whole surface foamed
with light and life.

We now dipped down from the height, and after a short
run entered the village of Arai, which is — or rather was,
for the Tokaido has now taken another and newer route
near this place, and the gate is removed— one of the gates of
the Tokaido, giving upon an inlet of the sea over which

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE TOKUOAWAS.

283

passengers have to be ferried. Oiir party at once embarked
in several boats which were waiting for us, and a strong
stern breeze drove us quickly over the two or three miles of
shallow water to the village of Mayezaka, in the province of
Totomi. Here we re-entered oViX jinrihi-slias and started for
our luncheon-place, Hamamatsu. The road through Maye-
zaka, and for a few miles beyond— no longer a recognised
portion of the Tokaido — is a bad, sandy road, and we moved
over it, or rather through its sandy ruts, hut slowly, thus
giving ourselves ample time to observe the large extent to
which the small fish that abound in the neighbouring sea
with its bays are caught and dried in the sun to serve as
manure. A large number of the inhabitants of Mayezaka and
the adjacent villages appear to he employed mainly in this
trade. As we passed under the hills we observed a number
of fishermen seated upon them, watching the sea for the fish-
shoals which they first descry from these heights, and then
descend and capture.

Before reaching Hamamatsu w^e pass the broad river of
Tenriu (Tenriugawa) by the longest bridge in Japan, nearly
four thousand feet in length. This river is navigable in its main
stream for one hundred and twenty miles from the sea, which
but few rivers of Japan are, owing to the narrowness of the
country, and the nearness of the mountains to the sea in very
many cases. Hamamatsu has some excellent native hotels, in
one of which, kept in admirable order, we took luncheon with
an avidity doubtless due in part to the sea-air, of which we had
breathed pretty freely in the course of the morning. The
breeze of the morning increased through the day, and we might
have sailed for the remainder of it in our jinrild-shas, had they
been supplied with masts and canvas. At length we entered
Kakegawa in a gale of wind, which found its way pretty freely
into our chambers, without the necessity of exercising much
ingenuity in getting there. The hotel, though the best in
the town — better having lately been destroyed by fire — is
an old one, and without the shelter of numerous screens and
rugs I feared my Yokkaichi pains and experiences might have
been renewed. Throughout the evening and night the house

284

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

shook with the wind almost incessantly, as if being nursed
by an attentive earthquake.

The next day’s journey lay chiefly over hills and river-beds,
with occasional transits over lovely valleys. The strong
north-westerly wind still swept down from the chill mountain
heights, occasionally developing into brief gales of considerable
force, threatening to sweep us from the hills. With more
force still they swept the bridges over the torrent-beds of he
Oigawa and the Ahegawa, on the farther or left bank of which
stands the city of Shidzuoka, which was to be our resting-
place for the night. • In other respects the day was fine and
bright. After driving a few miles, in our usual hand-carriages
(or Pull-man cars, as they are jocosely called), we reached
Missaka, where we alighted to cross the hills for four or five
miles, either in hagos or on foot, the road, although practi-
cable for jinrihi-shas, being in large part so very steep and
rough that no one would from choice be jolted up and down
it. Those who cannot walk are taken in hagos, which are
little carriages, either open or closed, carried upon the
shoulders of men. There were several of them in readiness
for our party, but none into which it appeared at all possible
for me to squeeze or be squeezed ; and I should have been
among the most unreasonable and ungrateful of men, I
thought, if I preferred such a mode of conveyance, being as
far recovered as I was, to a fine mountain walk of a few miles.

And a fine walk indeed we had, through Swiss-like scenery,
with occasional views over large extents of lowlands, now and
then glimpses of the distant sea, and suddenly, after passing
the first summit, such a full-fronted view of Fuji-yama as
would have well repaid a far more laborious climb. Later on,
after passing across a valley and ascending a second hill, we
came upon another and still more beautiful view of the sacred
mountain, the highest in Japan, which rises 13,000 feet clear
away from the sea. We could not, however, see the base
from our position, but we saw what was perhaps better as an
object of beauty. Below its snow-covered summit and sides,
the lower and darker part of the mountain appeared of the
self-same blue as the sky above, so that the mountain of snow

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE T0KUGAWA8.

285

seemed poised in heaven — perhaps suspended there after the
fashion in which one of our poets has imagined the world
to be —

“Hung by gold chains about the feet of God.”

Below Fuji were lower ranges of mountains, darkly con-
trasting with it ; then, nearer, came low wooded hills ;
nearer still, the broad, rough, stony bed of the Oigawa, with
swift streams chasing down it, and sand-storms driving over
it ; and nearer still a village, and tea-plantations, and the
Tokaido sweeping down with its wild horderings of old and
twisted trees. On all the sun shone brightly, and over all the
gale blew swiftly, so that we had before us such a scene as
artists well might paint and poets edit. Dipping down to
the village below, Kanaya, where other jinrihi-sh as awaited
us, we started in them for Fusieda. Our way lay first across
the Oigawa, and through the driving sand-storms which we
had enjoyed as part of a picture, hut which were anything
but charming as atmospheres to be driven through We
were soon beyond them, however, and ere long comfortably
engaged in ascertaining the merits of a Fusieda luncheon in
a very good native inn or hotel. This matter sufficiently
determined to the satisfaction of all, we were speedily en
route again, and instead of skirting the hills to the south-
ward, as I expected, turned towards the hills in front. After
passing through a village at their base, and racing down a
valley between them, we ascended a winding or alternating
roadway, which terminated at the entrance of a tunnel
through the mountain. This tunnel, much resembling that
of Pozzuoli, near Naples, and lighted, like it, with lamps at
intervals, was about a third of a mile in length. It termi-
nated in a beautiful valley, down which the road plunged,
and up which— as up the steep roads of the morning, by-
the-hye — several hagos were being borne, the travellers
usually walking to spare the carrying ninsolcus, as this class
of labourers and jinrihi-sha men are called. After a few
miles of further travelling we saw before us the roofs of
a large town, and between them and us the bed of another

286

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

large river, which I rightly took to be the Ahegawa, the
town or city beyond being the terminus of our day’s run,
Shidzuoka.*

Here we were cordially received at an excellent native
hotel, by the governor of the large district or Ken which
takes its name from this place, and also by the vice-governor
or chief secretary, who indeed had already received us on our
entrance into the Ken earlier in the day, and had pushed on
before us to welcome us in the city. The kindness of these
gentlemen deserves more than a passing tribute here, for in
addition to their welcome to the place, they entertained us
at a private banquet in the evening, and made us valuable
presents of specimen productions of the district, including
lacquer work, inlaid work, articles of delicacy and beauty made
of the bamboo cane, teas as prepared for both the home and
the European markets, etc. They also had a large quantity
of the lacquer, inlaid, and bamboo work of the district placed
for our inspection in the hotel. While looking in an upper
room at some of these very pretty productions of Shidzuoka,
the selling prices'of which I found on inquiry to he singularly,
quite wonderfully, low, a door was slid open, just after sun-
set, and disclosed a superb view of Fuji-yama, on which the
light lingered, and to which it clung, certainly with love-
liness, apparently with love. I do not wonder that in
these parts of Japan this wondrous, this sublime, object is
impressed, more or less imperfectly, upon almost every
article to which the arts are applied — and in Japan what is
there to which art is not applied ? After dinner we tried
the Shidzuoka tea as prepared for the European, or, more
correctly speaking, for the American, market, and found it
excellent. The European taste is somewhat different, as we
know, hut this also is now being provided for. The export
of tea from Shidzuoka Ken amounts in value to £200,000,
and in one year, when tea was scarce, the export reached
two and a half times that amount. It is hoped by the
authorities that it will greatly increase, the cultivation of

Formerly Fucliiu, and known also as Sumpu.

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE TOKUGAWAS.

287

the tea-plant in this Ken being developed with great care
and energy, as was apparent thronghont the day’s journey.

This town is the most notable of all in relation to the
great Tokugawa family, which gave to Japan its Shoguns
and Tycoons from the year 1603 down to 1868, when the
system of government by a Shogun was brought to an end.
The first of the Tokugawa Shoguns, lyeyasu, finally took up
his residence in Shidzuoka after his great victory over his
rivals at Sekigahara, near Lake Biwa — a victory which
determined, as we saw, the government and fate of Japan
from the beginning of the seventeenth century onwards to
our own day. Here at Shidzuoka, then known as Sumpu,
lyeyasu had long before built himself a great castle, and
resided in it. He now returned to it, and left it again only
for two short intervals, to suppress rebellious attempts. Here
he devoted himself mainly to literature, collecting and pre-
serving so many old manuscripts, and otherwise so exerting,
himself that it is said to he largely due to him that much of
the ancient Japanese literature is now in existence."^

* “ The Sumpki quoted by Hirata
mentions a large number of works
brought to lyeyasu from various parts
of the country, some from Kioto and
others from Kamakura, and a few
from the monastery of Minobu San, in
Kosliiu. Before his death he gave
directions that the library of Japanese
and Chinese books wliich he had
formed at Sumpu should be divided
between his eighth son, the prince of
Owari, and his ninth son, the prince
of Kiushiu. The former received tlie
greater part of the Japanese books,
the latter the Chinese books. Under
the directions of the prince of Owari
were composed the ‘ Jingihoten ’ and
‘Kuijiu Nihongi.’ One of lyeyasu’s
grandsons, the famous second prince
of Mito (1622-1700), known variously
as Mito no Komon Sama and Mito
no Giko (Mitsukini was his nanori),
also collected a vast library by pur-
chasing old books from Shinto and

Buddhist temples, and from the
people. With the aid of a number of
scholars, amongst whom tradition says
were several learned Chinese who had
fled to Japan to escape the tyranny
of tlie Manchu conquerors, he com-
posed the ‘ Daini-honshi,’ or History
of Great Japan, in two hundred and
forty books. This book is the standard
history of Japan to this day, and all
subsequent writers on the subject
have taken it as their guide. He
also compiled a work on the cere-
monials of the imperial court, consist-
ing of more than five hundred volumes,
which the Mikado condescended to
give the title of Reigi riuten. To
defray the cost of producing these
two magnificent works, the prince of
Mito set aside at least 30,000 holcu
of rice per annum (some accounts say
50,000, others 7 0,000).” — Ernest Satow,
in ‘ Transactions ’ of Asiatic Society
of Japan. — The hohu is a little less

288

JAPAN.

[chap. XII,

'As the first, so the last of the Tokngawa Tycoons has made
Shidzuoka his place of residence, for here now resides the de-
throned Tycoon, who lives in great privacy and simplicity.
He sees hut few people, frankly acknowledging that the
reassertion of the Mikado’s authority is just, and not
desiring to give any countenance to a contrary feeling. He
devotes himself mainly to field-sports, but as I saw in the
house of one of the ministers of state in Tokio a very pretty
drawing from his (the ex-Tycoon’s) hand, I cannot doubt
that he indulges himself likewise in the exercise of the
artist’s skill. As some compensation for their loss of em-
ployment, the Mikado’s government presented a large tract
of land in this district to the former personal attendants and
servants of the Tycoon, much of which is cultivated under a
system of partnership, the tea-plant for which the soil is
peculiarly favourable being the principal thing grown here.

The literary reminiscences suggested by a visit to Shidzu-
oka are not limited to the doings of the Tokugawas, and I
must mention the circumstance that it was to this city that
the learned Hirata Atsutane secretly retired in the year 1812
to compose his great work, the ‘ Koshi-seihun,’ which has
previously been quoted. After offering up a prayer to all
the gods for their aid, he is said to have set to work on the
fifth of the month, and to have completed it by the end of it.
“As a proof of his remarkable memory,” says Mr. Satow,
“ it is said that he composed the three volumes of the text
and several volumes of the prolegomena, entitled ‘ Koshi-cho,’
without making a single reference to the works from which
his materials were drawn. The ‘ Koshi-seihun ’ was appa-
rently intended to have been brought far down into what is
usually called the historical period, but the part which
relates to the divine age is all that has at present appeared.”

On our way over the mountains to-day we picked up a few
matters of fact which are worth mention here. By the side

than five imperial bushels, and ten voted the produce of at least 3000

holiu per acre is given as a good acres of rice-land to these literary

average production from the rice- enterprises,
lands. The prince of Mi to thus de-

CHAP. XII.] THE HOME OF THE TOKUOAWAS.

289

of one of the tea-houses, near the summit of the hill rising
from Missaka, was a large rounded stone of remarkable form,
which is known as the “night-crying stone.” The story
connected with it, as told to me here at Shidzuoka, is as
follows : —

More than two thousand years ago (in the time of the
emperor Kogen, who reigned from 214 to 158 b.c., and died
at the good old age of 116), a woman who was — well, who
was a thorough wife, and whose husband had been away
but a few months, went to seek him in the region of what
is now the modern capital of the country. There met her, or
overtook her, on the way, one of those two-sworded gentle-
men the samurai, who with all their advantages were not
always as gentle or as virtuous as they might have been,
as we shall presently see. This one fell in love with his
fellow-traveller, and employed all his arts, both on the road
and at the inn at which he took care they both should stay,
to establish that which some in our own country are at
present sighing for — a condition of “reciprocity.” Failing
in this object, he appears to have lost his temper, and with
it what he called his love, for he drew his sword and
actually slew the poor woman on the spot. A month later
and she would have been nursing an infant at home ; but as
it was, to keep the child alive required the aid of superior
power. That, fortunately, was not wanting, and the goddess
Kwannon had everything done that was necessary, even to
the naming of the child, Otahachi, and to having it brought
up upon a sort of “ toffee ” made from rice. That the crime
might not be kept secret, the goddess also caused the stone
previously mentioned to cry out, and a pine-tree standing
near to cry out likewise. When young Otahachi grew up
he went to a sword-grinder’s, a Mr. Gengero’s, to learn his
art, and while there one day, who should go in to have
his sword sharpened but the wicked samurai who slew his
mother ! Gengero, on looking at the sword, pronounced it,
although of excellent quality originally, so worn and with so
little steel left in it as to be nearly useless. This led to a
conversation which convinced Otahachi, who overheard it,

VOL. II.

290

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

that the samurai was the very man on whom he desired to
revenge his mother’s death, and the spirited young fellow
at once challenged him to mortal combat. Ashamed as a
samurai to refuse, though desiring to escape (these swash-
buckler gentry who cut and slash at the weak always do
desire to escape when a strongish young fellow tackles
them !), he accepted the challenge, fought and fell, and thus
was the poor mother avenged by Kwannon’s well-nourished
l^rotege. And what is the moral ? Well, the great moral,
which tells so much for virtue, is obvious ; and another is
that the Japanese rice- toffee is remarkably good food for
children, and can be purchased even to this day at the tea-
house of the “ night-crying stone,” and also at many another
tea-house up and down this Missaka mountain, and I dare say
at a great many places besides. I tried a little of it myself,
but I was so sure that my illustrious physician. Sir Henry
Thompson, would not consider it good for me that I scarce
did more than taste it. For two thousand years and more,
however, it has helped to nourish Japanese babes, and
plumper children I never desire to see.

Another of these matter-of-fact stories carries us back
still earlier, even to the time of the emperor Koan, who
reigned from 392 to 291 b.c., and died at the very ripe age
of 137. It tells of a wondrous pheasant which had wings
and a tail formed of swords, and was therefore far more
terrible, let it be understood, than any porcupine with mere
spears, however large. Worse a great deal than the cruel
samurai of the last story, this ferocious bird used to descend
upon the neighbouring village of Koya-nakayama, carry off
people, slay and eat them. The villagers not unnaturally
got so worried by these cruel depredations that they petitioned
the Mikado Koan to have the sworded pheasant hunted and
killed, and his majesty sent down a certain Prince Yashimasa
to effect this. The bird was so difficult to find, however,
and so artful in its devices for evading Yashimasa, sometimes
appearing as a woman mixing up with the villagers, sometimes
taking the form of a tree, and sometimes disappearing alto-
gether, that the prince was long detained in the house of Atago

CHAP. XII.] TEE HOME OF THE TOKUQA WAS.

291

Slioji, a local gentleman, wliose guest he had become. So
long was he detained that he fell in love with a young girl
named Sliiragika, who happened to he at the same time an
emissary of the goddess Kwannon and a daughter of Atago
Shoji, and who returned the love of Yashimasa with warmth
and loyalty. At last Yashimasa found the nest of the
pheasant on the top of a neighbouring hill, and took his
precautions for bagging it by arranging a bamboo screen
with a hole to see through, and sitting behind it armed with
a bow and arrows till the pheasant came. When it came
there was no mistaking it, with its gleaming steel wings and
its eyes which sparkled like stars, and Yashimasa at once
brought it to the ground with an arrow through its cruel
heart. He now had to return to the Mikado to report his
success, and perforce left Shiragika behind, she deeming
herself as a village girl unfit to accompany a prince to
court, and sure to discredit him if she did so. Unfortunately,
however, there was one result of their mutual love which
could not be concealed for long, and which she was ashamed
to have known, and poor Shiragika therefore thought it
better that she should perish. She accordingly loaded her
dress with stones and dropped into a deep part of the river
off the rocks between Kame and Sakura, which are called to
this day (I do not see why) the Chrysanthemum and Cherry-
blossom Kocks. When Yashimasa got old and feeble he left
the court and went and spent his last days at the spot, and
died in the adjacent village of Kikugawa.

A further story was connected with the above, inasmuch
as it concerned a well which the ghost of the sword-pheasant
troubled and caused to boil and foam. The well was on the
top of Mount Mokanza, and the name of it was Awagadaky.
Notwithstanding that it was a well on the top of a mountain,
it had an underground connection with the sea, for the
water in it rose and fell with the tide. By the foaming of
the well a sort of crust was formed, which got converted
into a bell — one of three very famous bells in Japan, those
of Mij and Anoye being the others. All these bells were
considered gifts of the sea-god. This Awagadaky bell had a

u 2

292

JAPAN.

[chap. XII.

very peculiar property, for if you struck it you would obtain
whatever you desired at the time ; but the fulfilment of your
wish was ultimately followed by a terrible penalty, for you
were sent to the worst of all places, which shall be name-
less here, though it is as easy to spell as “ bell,” and you
there found part of the established tortures to be that of
satisfying innumerable leeches, food and other things thrown
into the well curiously enough turning into leeches. At the
foot of the mountain, in the village of Amatzuba, lived a
man, Narinobel by name, who appears to have camped out on
the mountain near the well’s mouth for some reason of his own,
and while there a man intruded upon him and thus offended
him. On being angrily questioned on the subject, the man
informed Mr. Narinobel that he was son and heir-apparent of
the county samurai house of Ozawahiogo, and therefore had
the right to enter uninvited. He at once left, however, and
cherished the desire to revenge himself on Narinobel for his
insolence. He decided, against the will of his father, whom
he consulted on the point, to strike the bell and thus obtain
ample means for taking his revenge in his own way. To
prevent this his father went up the mountain in the night
and buried the bell out of the son’s way, and buried it so
effectually that it has never since been found. The son was
extremely angry to find it gone, and searched a great
deal for it, even going to the length of burning down
a temple in the hope of finding it among the ashes. A
ferocious wind thereupon sprang up, and in it came one of
the Gongen gods (deified Japanese celebrities), and either
wind or god, or both together, hurled the heir of Ozawahiogo
down a precipice, and thus brought his brief career to an
end. “ Mark,” says the native narrative, “ the power of
God,” and the reverent reader will not fail to do so.

With these very ancient stories I may fitly conclude the
record of an evening at Shidzuoka, where they were written
down as my interpreters roughly translated them from
papers picked up on our mountain-walk during the day.

c 293 )

CHAPTEE XIII.

FUJI-YAMA AND THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS.

Height, solitude, and solemnity of the sacred mountain — A dormant rather
than an extinct volcano — Legend of its origin — Cultivation of its slopes
— Pilgrimages to its summit — Its splendid appearance — Seikenji, or
“Clear View Temple” — Temp.e treasures — The Mikado’s gifts of gold
cups — Saruga Bay — Fish-drying — Production of salt — Arrival at
Mishima — The great Shinto temple — Chief priest Mayada — More
treasures — A vase of the god-period — “ God’s food ” — The hago of
Mishima’s god — Mountain-^ayos — Discomfort of the kago to Euro-
peans— “Asleep at the wrong end ” — Splendid scenery of the Hakone
mountains — Views of the Idzu hills — The Japanese nightingale —
Koadside scenes — Fuji disappears in the mist — Police escorts of the
ministers — Dangerous effects of foreign pressure — Hakone lake —
Kaempfer’s description — Hakone gate in the old. days — Mountain and
forest beauty — Asleep in a hago — The Sea of Sagami — The baths of
Yumoto — A native hotel — Mixed bathing — “ Honi soit qui mal y pense !”
— Our final day on the Tokaido — Speed of the jinriki-sha men —
Neglected state of the great high-road — Second arrival in Tokio — A
hearty welcome.

As we have now come in full view of the great sacred moun-
tain, and shall have it almost continually before us for a day
or two to come, this appears to he a proper time and place
to say a little more about it. And I would first observe that
I see no reason for suggesting any explanations derived from
profound considerations either for its being treated as a
sacred mountain, or for its predominance in the works of
artists of all kinds. The great height, solitude, and solemn
beauty of the mountain would have had these results in any
country in the world in the early stages of its life, and all
these qualities would he quite certain to make even a deeper
impression upon the life and thought and sentiment of such
a people as the Japanese than upon those of most nations.

294

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

It has been said that there are on the summit of Fuji eight
peaks, which have been likened to the eight petals of the
sacred lotus-flower, and that this may have had some influence
in confirming the popular belief in the sacredness of the
mountain ; and this may be true, for people will be influenced
by almost any kind of consideration in the way of confirming
themselves in beliefs already formed. But the best evidence
of the sacred character of Fuji is to he found, I think, in the
fact that every person who speaks or writes about it seems
naturally to rise more or less into a reverent state of feeling
as he does so. It has a real, a strong, and a solemnising
influence on all who behold it. Even when it is viewed
from beyond other mountains, its sovereign character is very
striking; and when it is seen springing with one tremendous
and sublime flight from sea to sky, it is of more sovereign
character still. I am sorry to have to admit that there are
not many places on the Tokaido from which this single
unbroken curve of Fuji can he seen. He has a hump — not
a very large or ungraceful one fortunately — upon his south-
eastern side, known as Hoyei-san, which was thrown up at
his last eruption in the year 1707, after a terrible fashion.
A tremendous earthquake shook even distant provinces, and
from the side of Fuji, about three thousand feet from the
top, there hurst out such masses of ashes that portions of
them were carried a hundred miles away. The noise of the
eruption was heard in Yedo, more than seventy miles away.

Mr. Brunton, in his large map of Japan, which I have
found so very useful,* gives the height of Fuji-yama as
13,000 feet, and describes it as an extinct volcano. Mr. D.
H. Marshall, M.A., however, in his ‘ Notes on some of the
Volcanic Mountains in Japan,’ read at the Asiatic Society,!
gives the height as 12,365 feet — from a very careful deter-
mination with an omnimeter by Mr. E. Stewart, of the Govern-

* I have a copy of this map, but as a folding copy, which was so very
it is mounted on a roller I did not useful.

take it to Japan. Mr. McRitchie, f In what follows I propose to
the accomi)lished engineer of the make a free use of the information
imperial Japanese lighthouse depart- given in this interesting paper, which
ment, was kind enough to lend me was read as recently as 1878.

CHAP. XIII.] FUJI- YAM A — THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS. 295

ment Survey Department — and says that it is erroneous to
speak of it as extinct. “ It has been dormant for not more
than one hundred and seventy years, hut the world-known
Vesuvius itself is known to have been dormant for periods
comparable with this, e.g., prior to 79 a.d., between 79. and
203, and between 203 and 472. Again, Scrope writes that
during the quiescent interval between the eruptions of 1137
and 1306 the whole surface of Vesuvius was in cultivation,
and pools of water and chestnut-groves occupied the sides and
bottom of the crater, as is at present the case with so many
of the extinct craters, of Etna, Auvergne, etc. Fuji is
therefore better called a dormant volcano.” Mr. J. Eymer
Jones descended into the crater, and found it to he
500 feet deep. As to the origin of Fuji, some native
chroniclers claim for it even a less age than the present
reigning dynasty, for whereas they allege that Jimmu-Tenno,
the founder of the present Mikado’s family, began to reign
660 years before Christ, they state that Fuji-yama was only
created 285-6 years before Christ, Fuji being elevated and
the bed of Lake Biwa being sunk both in one night. We
are not, however, hound in any way to believe this, and
modern investigators do not accept it. It appears to have
been a pretty active volcano from the eighth to the eleventh
century (a.d.). In the Nilionki it is written that in 799 the
summit of Fuji burnt and emitted showers of ashes with
thundering noises ; the waters of the rivers at its base
became red, and at night brilliant flames were seen. Again,
in the San-sai-dzuye it is recorded that in 864 the flames rose
from the summit of Fuji to a great height ; there were
frequent earthquakes, and the sea for a distance of more
than seventy miles along the shore receded five miles, large
quantities of fish perishing. Fuji is cultivated to a height
of from one to two thousand feet ; above this is a belt of
Avhat has been called “ prairie ground,” and above this again
is “ a vast belt of forest which encircles the mountain for
half its height.” In this forest there is a great variety of
trees, “ including coniferous trees of various kinds — crypto-
nierias, pines, firs, etc., chestnut, elm, dzusa, a tree from

296

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

the leaves of which oil is extracted, maple, elder, willow,
boxwood, etc.” The only plant that is said to be found
above the forest is a curious one called nihuji, which is
supposed to cure diseases.* The ascent of this mountain is
a sacred pilgrimage, and there are accordingly several roads
to the summit, with nine huts or shelters on each. The
sight of the pilgrims, dressed in white robes, and praying to
the rising sun, is said to greatly interest foreigners. Mr.
Marshall says he has known two or three hundred of these
white-robed devotees turn out of the numerous sheds on the
summit “ and chant their prayers most melodiously to the
rising ruler of the day.” He adds : “ From the summit of
Fuji on a clear day the view is superb of mountains, lakes,
rivers, valleys, plains, and seas. . . . Sometimes the higher
mountains are hidden by stormy seas of snow-white cloud,
hut even then the mountaineer feels the splendour of the
scene ample reward for his labour.”

Leaving Shidzuoka early on the morning of the 16th of
March, we pursued our course eastward, lunching at Kamhara,
and staying for the next night at Mishima. Our route lay
for several hours with Fuji-yama on our left and the sea
on our right, and as the day was one of rare fineness, and
of very remarkable atmospheric clearness, we enjoyed scenery
which is not to he surpassed in the world. For some
hours the whole 13,000 feet of Fuji-yama was without
the faintest phantom of a cloud — an almost unprecedented
fact, according to the local statements made to us — and
when clouds formed they merely constituted a sort of
experimental display, as if the governor of the district had
carried his courtesy to the length of showing us how prettily
clouds can he produced up there out of nothing ; how much
softer than any silk, and how much more transparent than
any gauze, they can he woven when sunbeams interlace with
vapours of snow ; how slowly they can sail past the steadfast

* In a discussion on Mr. Marshall’s growing as far up as the seventh

paper, Mr. Satow stated that in an station, and had seen tufts of grass

ascent of Fuji-yama which he had . as far up even as the ninth,
made in 1877, he had found plants

CHAP. XIII.] FUJI- YAM A — THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS. 297

mountain front, and quicken their speed as they pass around
and beyond it ; with what consummate art they can veil
any blemish on the mountain’s beauty ; and how, by deepen-
ing their own shade and darkening their own shadows, they
can intensify by contrast even the cold, white, solid-seeming
splendour of the mountain itself. As for the sea, as it lay
lake-like but vast in the beautiful Suruga Bay, sparkling
in a setting of coloured mountains, its solicitations to the
eye were urgent and perpetual. A morning or two before
it seemed, as I have previously remarked, to fairly foam
with brightness ; hut on this occasion its brightness was
more definite and intense, more like one might expect it
to appear if its whole surface were surging with liquid dia-
monds. I have no power to describe the combined beauty
of the mountain on the one hand and the sea on the other,
on this middle day of March ; hut to assist the reader in
imagining it, I ought to repeat that for hours we had full
before us the immense sweep of this huge tower of silver
and blue, from the summit, high in heaven, clear down
to the sparkling sea. 0 for the skill of some more than
mortal artist with which to fix before the eye this glorious
picture ! — and indeed those many pictures of this hallowed
mountain as it appeared from our ever-shifting points of
view throughout the day.

Where a branch of Suruga Bay comes close up to the
hills, the Tokaido passing along the strand between,
stands the beautiful Buddhist (Zen-shu) temple of Seikenji
(“ Clear View Temple ”) — beautiful for its position, over-
looking the hay and the mountains beyond ; beautiful for
its buildings, which are among the best that we have seen
of the purely Japanese type ; and beautiful for its garden
at the back, formed from the mountain-side, with a small
natural torrent pouring down it, and with trees of great
variety scattered in a highly picturesque manner over its
rocky amphitheatre. In front of this temple is a plum-tree,
planted by the hand of the great lyeyasu nearly three
hundred years ago. The residential buildings of the temple
were in part rebuilt eleven years ago, and have been occu-

298

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII,

pied for a short time by the now reigning Mikado, who
once stayed here on account of the salubrity of the place.
We halted and visited this temple, the chief priest kindly
showing ns its treasures, among which were letters of
lyeyasn and Hideyoshi. There w^ere likewise three silver
cups given to the temple by the present Mikado in remem-
brance of his visit. A jjvopos of these cups, I was informed
that persons now subscribing to the funds of public institu-
tions in Japan receive from the Mikado a present of cups.
If the subscription is of ten thousand ijen (dollars) or up-
wards, the cups are of gold ; if it he less than ten thousand
but of or over one thousand ijen, they are of silver ; and if
for less, they are of some material of less value. The
venerable chief priest of this temple has held the office for
thirty years.

Most of the villages passed through on the day now under
notice were on or near to the shore of Suruga Bay, along
which the Tokaido sweeps, and the villagers were largely
occupied in drying fish for manure. There was also carried
on in favourable places, and on a large scale, the method of
obtaining salt from the sea, by throwing sea-water over
prepared beds of sand, and allowing the sun’s heat to
evaporate the water and leave the salt. The largest river
crossed was Fuji-kawa, which runs down from the inland
mountains past the western side of Fuji-yama, entering the
sea close to the base of that mountain. Its main channel
is about seventy miles long. When we passed it was
flowing wuth swiftness through one main channel of siif-
ficent width to compel us to cross in ferry-boats in the
absence of a bridge, hut the bed of the river, which must
be nearly two miles wide, was dry. Three times a year
the wffiole of the broad bed is covered with the torrent.
The Tokaido proper crosses this river by a bridge much
higher up ; but we took a short cut, and with it a very had,
sandy road, so that I doubt if we gained anything in time.

I for one, however, gained the exercise and pleasure of the
walk across the river bed, which was very enjoyable. At
one period of the day, as we approached Mishima, we lost for

CHAP. XIII.] FUJI-YAMA — TEE HAKONE MOUNTAINS. 299

a time the company of his excellency Admiral Kawamnra,
who went off to inspect a quantity of Tiaki timber cut for
his dejiartment in the forests on Mount Amaki, not allowing
me to accompany him or to know beforehand of his going,
on account of the disturbed state of my health.

It was five o’clock before we arrived at Mishima, having
visited some pleasant gardens at Hara, after lunching at
Kamhara. Immediately after alighting from our jinrild-shas,
in which we had been with brief intervals for nearly ten
hours, we proceeded to visit the great Shinto temple of
Mishima Gengin, at the invitation of the chief priest, Mayada,
a temple so ancient as regards its foundation that no one
knows when it was founded, and a chief priest so pleasant
that I do not wish to meet a pleasanter. This is the temple
by which Japanese pledge themselves when they wish to
make a very solemn and binding engagement. Two of the
junior priests received us at the outer torii, and led us to the
temple proper, where the chief priest awaited us with the
temple hand playing. Some of us went through the simple
ceremony of washing the hands and putting a branch of the
sacred tree into its place. We then examined the treasures
of the temple, including a very ancient vase, said to belong
to the period of the gods — dating, that is, from before the
reign of Jimmu-Tenno, the first Mikado, which commenced,
according to the histories, six hundred and sixty years before
Christ; an imperial order or warrant to the temple from
the empress Gensho, written nearly twelve hundred years
ago ; likewise numerous small articles which once belonged
to Yoritomo and his mother (twelfth century), having been
brought here from the palace of Kamakura ; a very ancient
flute, known as the flute of ivory ; a sword which was used
by the Daimio of Hizen in subduing the Christian Japanese ;
and collections of other swords and of robes of distinction
which have from time to time, during many centuries, been
presented to the temple, and many of which, as the reader
will suppose, were viewed with interest. The chief priest
presented us with some of the “ god’s-food ” in the form
of boxes of sweetmeats which had been offered to the

300

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

god at the altar, and had remained there the usual time ;
and likewise with a written description of the temple, and
some of the simple temple remembrances such as pilgrims
take away with them. He was good enough afterwards to
bring me (to the excellent hotel at which we stayed in
Mishima) some photographs of the temple which he had
considerately had taken during the day for the purpose.
Our hotel at Mishima was that of Mr. Saiko, which was in
admirable condition, having been renovated for the reception
of the Mikado on his Tokaido journey.

The next day our route lay over the Hakone mountains,
the pass of which, although broad and in the main of
moderate gradients, is in places so steep, and everywhere
paved with such large rough stones, as to he almost im-
practicable for jinriki-shas ; and although, as we saw, these
little carriages were occasionally dragged over, they are
taken over empty, the passenger having to travel on foot
the greater part of the distance from Mishima to Hakone.
The usual course is therefore to resort to the kago, or
light carriage, borne on the shoulders of men. But before
describing our kagos, let me mention another sort of kago
-which we met in the street on our way out of Mishima,
and which was no less than the kago of the god. It appears
that just as the god had at Ise ponies to take him for a
ride on great occasions, so he has a kago to serve a similar
purpose on festival days ; and this ornamental little carriage,
mounted partly above the hearing-poles, instead of being
slung below them, was the kago of Mishima’s god. I am
told that here as elsewhere the god has at the great festivals,
known as “ Matsurei,” no less than forty hearers, all dressed
in white, who sway from side to side of the road, singing
sacred songs, and at intervals hoisting the kago as high
in the air as possible. All the shops are closed at such
festive times, and there is general rejoicing. And in what
form is the god ? the reader will ask, at least I hope she *

* I agree with a writer who re- reading — I forget where— that we

cently set forth in an article I was ate very much in want of a pronoun

Soldiers in Time of Peace.

From Hokusai. Reproduced for this Work by a Japanese Engraver.

To face page 300, Vol. IT.

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CHAP. XIII.] FUJI-YAMA — THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS. 301

will, because that question will enable me to point out the
power of the Japanese imagination : for tbe god bas no form
at all, except that with which the imagination invests him ;
he is simply represented, after a fashion, by goheis, which, as
the reader knows, are neither more nor less in themselves than
bits of paper cut in jagged strips and attached to sticks.

Our hagos are of two kinds, the one being closed like
a dwarf sedan-chair, with the bottom serving as the seat,
and sliding doors at the sides ; the other, known as
yama-liago, or mountain-Z;a^o, being a mere suspended
open framework of bamboo to rest on, with a light screen
over it. In both cases they are suspended from a pole
running lengthwise, and the bearers carry folded handker-
chiefs as a shoulder-pad, and a bamboo stick to rest the pole
on when they “ change shoulders,” which^ they do after
very short intervals. The largest hago of each kind that
could be obtained in Mishima was placed at my disposal,
and I tried both before starting, and found, as I thought,
that either would do ; but we all started from Mishima
on foot, and when, after a long and tiring climb, I forced
myself into them and attempted to travel in them, I found
that neither was endurable for more than a few minutes,
especially as the bearers changed shoulders frequently, and
kept me so incessantly gyrating through large angles that
they gave me a sort of longitudinal swimming in the head,
to which a reasonable regard for the readers of this book
would not allow me to submit myself for more than a very
few hundred yards. I was obliged, therefore, to make my
own way on foot to Hakone, and a toilsome way I found
it. At Hakone, after luncheon, a much larger yama-hago
was obtained, and adapted for four bearers, so that the
remainder of the day’s journey to Ynmoto was relieved as
much as I found necessary. Speaking generally, these
hagos are a detestable means of conveyance to all but
Japanese, owing to the cramped position which you are
required to assume in them. They appear to be comfortable

to stand for either he or she in cases the lady the preference, as is meet

of this sort. In this instance I give and riglit.

302

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

enough, indeed very comfortable, to the natives of the
country, because they are habituated from infancy to sit
upon their feet, or upon the floor with their feet turned
under. But for those of us (Europeans, Americans, and
others) who are accustomed all our days to sit on chairs,
it is very difiicult to assume at all the position necessary
for hago-^iiimg or hago-\jmg, and almost impossible to
preserve it long. “ In these vehicles,” says Mr. Griffis,
I always fall asleep at the wrong end ; my head remaining
wide awake, while my feet are incorrigibly somnolent. I lie
in all shapes, from a coil of rope to a pair of inverted
dividers, with head wrapped from the cold, and hardly
enough face visible to make a monkey.”

We had a very^ suitable day for crossing these Hakone
mountains, the atmosphere being clear and inclined to bright-
ness, but with continuous screens of cloud to protect us from
the fiercer heat and light of the sun’s direct beams. We
obtained as we ascended glorious views over the country we
were leaving, from Fuji-yama westward over the fruitful
Shidzuoka Ken, and southward over the fine bay of Suruga
and the Idzu hills and vales. The road is pillared on either
side throughout with ancient pine-trees, that make it like a
vast continuous cathedral aisle, but one unlike all human
architecture in its ascents and descents, in the twisted, con-
torted earth-grasping character of its column-pedestals, and
in the shifting lights and shadows that stream through its
rustling roof. Occasionally we heard the melodious notes of
the uguisu, a wood-bird much celebrated in the poetry of
the country. It has a note like one of the best “ phrases ”
of the nightingale, if the musical world will allow the expres-
sion ; but its range is limited. It is, however, a pretty though
a brief bit of nightingale melody, and is sufficient of itself
(although it is not by any means alone) to make answer to
those who say that bird-song has been omitted altogether
from the delights of Japan.* The uguisu is said by the

* Since writing the above I have by my friend Capt. Hawes, of Tokio,

been looking over the proof of a pnpcr descriptive of a tour made by liim in

CHAP. xiTi.] FUJI- YAM A — THE IIAKONE MOUNTAINS. 303

poets “ to come warbling witli the plum-blossom.” And as
one is here speaking of birds, it may not be amiss to add that
throughout most of the country, and more still throughout the
towns of Japan of which I have had experience, there has been
a marked abundance of hawks and eagles on the wing — these
being, in fact, with wild ducks and wild geese, the birds most
usually seen here. We observed on this road the process of
preparing the bark of the hoso for paper manufacture. There
were also — if I may be allowed to vary the subject of my
remarks with something like the rapidity with which the
objects of observation varied on the roadside — numerous
small shrines at intervals, and occasionally a rough monu-
mental tablet to the memory of some long-deceased person of
eminence. It was touching to note that here, high up on
this mountain road, the memory of persons who had been
dead for centuries was kept green still by a living hand
placing before the stone, in a bit of bamboo cane, a branch
of fresh spring verdure.

Our hard walk over the mountain was relieved by frequent
stoppages for rest and the slight but welcome refreshment of
a cup of Japanese tea. There were numerous tea-houses by
the way, and at any of them this could be got ; but having
the honour of travelling with a cabinet minister of the
country, and one of the most thoughtful and kindly of hosts,
our necessities had all been anticipated by his officers, or by
those of the Ken or county. A long way up the mountain
we halted at a spot whence the view westward was thought
to be the finest on the pass, and where consequently a little
view-house had been erected for his majesty the emperor on
his journey previously mentioned. Our view of the great
solitary king of mountains, Fuji, was already, by our change

the interior of Japan, in which I find
a similar view stated. After describ-
ing the delicious perfume of the air
as not unlike the fragrance of the
meadow-sweet at home, he adds :
“ This, combined with the clear note
of the cuckoo, which sounded plea-
santly through the woods, the warble

of the nightingale, and the harsher
song of the jay, which were heard all
around, does certainly rather upset
the theory of some writers who assert
that ‘Japan is a country in which the
birds do not sing and the flowers
have no smell.’ ”

304

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

of position, getting seriously compromised by other mountains
intervening, and he had donned a Sort of helmet or crown of
cloud ; a little later on he became like our own King Arthur,
on the night of his final leave-taking from the queen, for the
rolling vapour

“ Enwound him fold by fold, and made him gray,

And grayer, till himself became as mist,”

and he was seen again no more before the close of our journey
to the capital.

Soon after the descent commenced we reached the dividing
line between the Kens of Shidzuoka and Kanagawa, which
was notified by notice-posts, and was further marked in the
present instance by a change of police, it being an order of
the emperor to the governing bodies of the Kens, since the
murder of the late minister Okubo, that cabinet ministers
travelling in the interior shall be attended by a small escort
of police. Some people who observe this police escort jump
to the conclusion that the ministers live in fear for their
lives, and that it is by their own desire that the escort is pro-
vided ; whereas I am able to state from personal knowledge
and experience that the escort is felt by some of the ministers
to be irksome rather than otherwise, and is submitted to in
deference to the commands of his majesty. No such thing as
a general fear for the lives of the ministers is probably felt
either by themselves or by his majesty; but the country has
undergone vast changes during the last few years, and vast
changes of necessity beget dissatisfaction in many, and there
is always a risk that among many dissatisfied there may be
here and there a fanatic who would revenge himself in blood
if he could, and this is no doubt the reason why the emperor
desires that for the present his cabinet advisers should usually
have the protection of either a military or civil guard to
prevent at least anything like hasty or casual attempts
against them. Another reason for the precaution is to be
found in the fact that the ministers are considered by the
people to be peculiarly responsible for the regulations which
foreign powers impose upon the government of Japan, and

CHAP. XIII.] FUJIYAMA — THE IIAKOFE MOUFTAINk 305

whicli are known to give to foreigners many privileges at
the expense of the native population. This is a perpetual
source of clanger to the government.

After changing guard and commencing the descent to-
wards Hakone, we came upon a fine view of the pretty little
lake of that name, which has an area of square miles,
and upon the hank of which stands the village. Mr.
Marshall, in the paper already quoted, tells us that Lake
Hakone, like Avernus, is supposed to be an ancient crater,
and quotes what Kaempfer wrote in his description of his
journey to the court of the Shogun in 1691, when he passed
the lake about the middle of March, and therefore at the
same period as that at which we passed it. He wrote : “ This
lake is everywhere surrounded with high mountains, which
shut it up on both sides in such a manner that there is no
room to apprehend its overflowing the adjacent country.
Though the mountains that encompass it be of a very great
height, yet the top of Fuji-yama rises still higher, being seen
to the W.N.W. by the inhabitants of Togitsu (Hakone). We
were told that in former times this place sank in by a violent
earthquake, and that in lieu of it sprang up this lake. In
proof of this they advance the great quantity of mgi or cedar
trunks of an uncommon size which lie at the bottom, and are
fetched up from thence by divers, when the lord of the place
commands it, or hath occasion for them. For the neighbour-
hood produces everywhere great plenty of this tree, and the
tallest and finest cedars that are to be found anywhere in
Japan. The lake of Hakone being entirely surrounded with
mountains hath no other outlet but through one of these
mountains, being the same which is called Futago-yama, and
which lets the waters come through three different openings,
from whence they fall down the mountain-side in the nature
of cataracts to a considerable height, and, soon receiving
other rivulets from the neighbouring mountains, form them-

* This and the neighbouring vil- and more especially of their inlaid
lages as far on as Yumoto are noted work. Shops for the sale of them
for the excellence and cheapness of abound in all these villages,
their ornamental articles in wood,

VOL. II.

306

JAPAN.

[chap. xin.

selves into a river, wliicli with a frightful horrid noise crosses
the valley, running down over stones and sometimes precipices
towards the sea.” In this last sentence he refers, says Mr.
Marshall, to the river Haya, which flows through theMiyano-
shita, which is really the outlet of the lake ; and he was led
by the people of Hakone into the error regarding the connec-
tion between the Haya and the lake by the people telling him
of an artificial outlet which the farmers on the other side of
the mountains to the west of the lake made in order to secure
water for their fields in all seasons. This is a tunnel piercing
the mountains, and is an engineering work of great magni-
tude, requiring much skill for its execution. Mr. Marshall
makes no reference to the age of this great engineering work ;
hut Mr. Griffis states that it was performed centuries ago,
“ and now through the rocky sluices flows a flood sufficient to
enrich the millions of acres of Suruga province.”

In passing out of Hakone we saw the site of the old
Tokaido gate, and the remains of the gate buildings. In the
days of the Tycoons this Tokaido high road was blocked by
three defensible gates, which people were allowed through
only with passports. These gates were known as sehi, as
already intimated, and appear to have been kept with great
care down to the close of the Tycoon’s government, as I have
heard from those who travelled over the Tokaido in compara-
tively recent times of the difficulties experienced in getting
quickly through the gates, and of the insistence of those in
charge upon all passengers, even the sick and weak, alighting
from their Imgos to pass through. I have also heard, however,
that even the officers of the terrible Tycoon were not at
all times more absolutely incorruptible than other such
functionaries, and that the passage was facilitated by a due
regard to the financial convenience of the “ obstructives.”
The sekiSj in the feudal days, which were days of feuds, were
important strategic points, and their sites were of course so
selected that they might he.

The road beyond the old Hakone gate, going eastwards
(as we were), rises again occasionally, hut to no very great
extent — if my observation from a yama-kago, in a nearly

CHAP. xiii.J FUJI-YAMA — THE HAKONE MOUNTAINS. 307

horizontal position, may be trnsted — bnt there were long
descents, with many very steep and winding places, to be
made before our destination, Yumoto, was reached. The
scenery was fine, and for the greater part wooded, with
a torrent tumbling down the valley, and the hedges en-
livened by violets and by a variegated bamboo plant with
green and yellow in each stem and leaf. It being a bad
thing to go to sleep under such circumstances, although still
ill, I did what I could to avoid it, but the easy, synchronous,
sonorous movements of the kago, the lulling though half-
sibilant voice of the torrent, the soothing beauty of the
green aisle through which one was gliding, and, most of all,
the fatigue of a long mountain walk succeeding a short
night’s sleep, were sometimes and short times overpowering,
and I had to yield to them. Unlike Mr. Grifiis, however,
I went to sleep at the right end. I completed the last two
miles of the journey on foot, tempted by the glimpses ahead
of the bright and beautiful Sea of Sagami, out of which
opens the bay on which stand both Yokohama and Tokio.
The earth drinks up nearly all the light the sun sheds on
it ; but the water reflects a part of it, and so brightens the
landscape with sheets of light. It is, no doubt, this re-
flection of the light — whether of the direct rays of the sun
or of rays already reflected from sky or cloud — that gives
to water part of the charm which one never fails to feel
in the presence of river, lake, or sea.

Our day’s work terminated in a new, and as yet un-
finished, hotel, with a European-looking exterior and a
purely Japanese interior. It contains a couple of baths
of the hot-spring water of Yumoto, and is beautifully
situated on the bank of the resounding river that leaps
and scrambles down to the valley. The landlord, Mr. Saiko,
does not like Europeans or Americans, I was told — at least
he sets his face against having them as guests in his hotel,
because while he takes a great pride in having it clean and
bright, and in perfect Japanese order, they have not the
good manners to take their boots off and behave as becomes
the place. Therefore he objected very seriously to my son

X 2

308

JAPAN.

CHAP. XIII.

and myself going there as involving an infringement of
a rule which he intended to he absolute and to maintain
unbroken, and how his objection was got over I don’t know.
But it was got over, and we found ourselves in charming
quarters, making due allowance (as you always must make
in a house of Japanese style) for the absence of any warmth
beyond what can be got out of small open charcoal fires
in hibaehis, and likewise for the presence of draughts all
round you. The best was, however, done with screens, as
usual in such cases, and the best was not bad in this case.

Too fatigued to sleep much, nevertheless, I was glad
when six o^'clock came, and with it the preparations for the
last start of our Tokaido trip. Before leaving I looked
carefully through Mr. Saiko’s hotel, and found it very
interesting. It was most excellently built as regards work-
manship, and several beautiful woods were used in its con-
struction, in all cases being left, as usual in Japan, untouched
by paint or polish. Some of the ceilings were formed of
planks cut from a tree dug from such a depth below the
soil and in such a position as to prove that it was of great
antiquity. Time and darkness and the grave had only
veined and stained it with peculiar beauty, and, laid in
strakes alternating with others of modern wood, it had a
very bright and pleasing effect. Another ceiling was formed
with plank of extreme breadth and clearness of texture, and
was quite a curiosity of construction. The house had other
constructive merits which I need not dwell on. I confess,
however, that I was a little startled to find the old Japanese
system of a common bath for men and women preserved in
this beautiful modern establishment. There were but two
baths to the house, one public, in which ladies, gentlemen,
and young people of both sexes were supposed to refresh
themselves, and the other a private bath, the privacy of
which consisted solely, so far as I could see, in a partition
separating part of it from the other, the bath itself being
open in front. I presume Mr. Saiko’s motto is “ Honi soit
qui mal y pense ! ”

Yomoti is fifteen ris six chios from Kanagawa. A ri

CHAP. XIII.] FUJI-YAMA — THE HAEONE MOUNTAINS. 309

is thirty-six cliios, and a chio is sixty fathoms and a
little more. But as there are people alive who were edu-
cated before Mr. Forster introduced the School Boards, I
had better put the case more simply, and say that the dis-
tance was 15^- ris, and that 'a n is equal to nearly two and
a half miles (more exactly 2*46) ; let us call it thirty-seven and
a half miles. We left, by my watch (which was wrong, having
Nagoya time, but that does not matter), at a quarter past
seven; we arrived in Kanagawa at a quarter before two.
We stopped three or four times ; we spent one hour in
lunching and resting at Fuji-sawa; and the road was to a
considerable extent very hilly, and to a larger extent very
bad, being a sand road with so many holes in it that a
frequent slackening of pace was inevitable. Yet, deducting
the luncheon hour, we travelled in the jinriki-slias, with two
men to each (three to mine most of the way), the thirty-seven
and a half miles in five and a half hours, which was an average
of nearly seven miles an hour. From Fuji-sawa to Kanagawa
the distance is over fifteen English miles : we travelled
it in exactly two hours, or at the rate of over seven
and a half miles an hour, although this part of the journey
included the most and worst of the hills, and the worst part
of the road. On a smooth good road, such as the Tokaido
often is beyond the Hakone mountains, and where there
are but few towns upon it, the jinrild-sha men frequently
ran us along at eight miles per hour. I believe the poor
fellows who get their living in this way are very, very
poorly paid indeed — as a general rule, I mean, of course —
and many of them have wives and families. The stress of
life must therefore bear heavily on them ; still, more willing
or more industrious fellows I have never seen, and I sin-
cerely hope they are able to bear their hard lot without too
much of that pain which we must all feel in thinking of it.

I have mentioned the bad state of the Tokaido between
Odawara — that famous town of the siege of which I have
elsewhere spoken — and Tokio. I may add that hearing, as
I had often done, of the excellence of this great highway
between what were formerly the capitals of the Mikado and

310

JAPAN.

[chap. XIII.

the Tycoon, 1 was quite astonished at the state in which I
saw it in most of the towns and villages through which it
passed. One would have expected that the presence of a
populous town, where labour must be cheap, while on the
one hand increasing traffic and damaging the highway,
would on the other be made available for more than com-
pensating for the extra traffic, and for keeping the road in a
thoroughly satisfactory state. But the contrary is the case,
and the local traffic is allowed to destroy the highway with
seeming impunity, and thus to entail upon long-journey
travellers delays, fatigues, and even dangers which are
wholly unnecessary. I am quite aware that owing to the
abolition of the Daimio traffic, and the existence of steam-
ship communication between the former and present capitals,
the Tokaido has become a less frequented highway than it
was aforetime ; but on the other hand the maintenance and
improvement of its internal means of communication are of
such great importance to the country, and the western part
of the Tokaido is so well kept between the towns and villages,
that one could not but continually regret the absence of
satisfactory means for compelling the local people to keep
the main road good and efficient within their own limits.

But whether the Tokaido be good or bad, our journey
upon it was now over. The interior of Japan had swept
past us for many days, decorating the hall of memory with
many a splendid picture, not to be forgotten until its
walls turn again to dust. At the Kanagawa railway station
we were met by many friends, upon several of whom
the naval uniform glittered in the afternoon sun. A few
minutes more and we were speeding back to the capital
behind the horse of fire ; and yet a few minutes more and
we were once again under a roof where kindness blooms
continually, and again the guests of a hostess whose gentle
but hearty welcome suffered nothing from her want of
English words.

( 311 )

APPENDIX.

TBEATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN,

Signed at Yedo Augmt 26, 1858. Ratifications exchanged^ at Yedo

July 11, 1859.

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, and His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, being desirous to i^lace
the relations between the two countries on a permanent and friendly
footing, and to facilitate commercial intercourse between their respec-
tive subjects, and having for that purpose resolved to enter into a
Treaty of Peace, Amity, and Commerce, have named as their Pleni-
potentiaries, that is to say : —

Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, The Eight
Honourable the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, a Peer of the United
Kingdom, and Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of
the Thistle: —

And His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, Midzuno Chikugo no Kami ;
Nagai Geinba no Kami ; Inouye Shinano no Kami ; Hori Oribe no Sho ;
Iwase Higo no Kami ; and Tsuda Hanzaburo, who after having com-
municated to each other their respective full powers and found them
to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the
following Articles : —

I. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between Her
Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, her heirs and successors, and His Majesty the Tycoon of
Japan, and between their respective dominions and subjects,

II. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland may appoint a Diplomatic Agent to reside at the city of
Yedo, and Consuls or Consular Agents to reside at any or all the ports
of Japan, which are opened for British commerce by this Treaty.

312

JAPAN.

[app.

The Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General of Great Britain shall
have the right to travel freely to any part of the Empire of Japan.

His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan may appoint a Diplomatic Agent
to reside in London, and Consuls, or Consular Agents, at any or all
the ports of Great Britain.

The Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General of Japan shall have the
right to travel freely to any part of Great Britain.

in. The ports and towns of Hakodate, Kanagawa, and Nagasaki
shall he opened to British subjects on the first of July, one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine. In addition to which, the following-
ports and towns shall be opened to them at the dates hereinafter
specified : —

Nee-e-gata, or, if Nee-e-gata be found to be unsuitable as a harbour,
another convenient port on the west coast of Nipon, on the first day of
January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty.

Hiogo, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three.

In all the foregoing ports and towns, British subjects may per-
manently .reside. They shall have the right to lease ground, and
purchase the buildings thereon, and may erect dwellings and ware-
houses; but no fortification, or place of military strength, shall be
erected under pretence of building dwellings or warehouses; and to
see that this Article is observed, the Japanese authorities shall have
the right to inspect, from time to time, any buildings which are being-
erected, altered, or repaired.

The place which British subjects shall occupy for their buildings,
and the harbour regulations, shall be arranged by the British Consul
and the Japanese authorities of each j^lace, and if they cannot agree,
the matter shall be referred to and settled by the British Diplomatic
Agent and the Japanese Government.* No wall, fence, or gate shall be
erected by the Japanese around the place where British subjects reside,
or anything done which may prevent a free egress or ingress to the same.

British subjects shall be free to go where they please, within the
following limits, at the ojoened ports of Japan : —

At Kanagawa to the Eiver Lokugo (which emiDties into the Bay of
Yedo, between Kawasaki and Sinagawa), and ten n in any other
direction.

At Hakodate ten ri in any direction.

At Hiogo ten ri in any direction, that of Kioto excepted, which city
shall not be approached nearer than ten ri. The crews of vessels
resorting to Hiogo shall not cross the Eiver Enagawa, which empties
into the bay between Hiogo and Osaca.

The distance shall be measured by land from the goyosho, or town
hall of each of the foregoing ports, the ri being equal to four thousand
two hundred and seventy-five yards English measure.

APP.]

TBEATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

313

At Nagasaki, British subjects may go into any part of the Imperial
domain in its vicinity.

The boundaries of Nee-e-gata, or the place that may be substituted
for it, shall be settled by the British Diplomatic Agent and the
Government of Japan.

From the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two, British subjects shall be allowed to reside in the city of
Yedo, and from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three, in the city of Osaca, for the purposes of trade only.
In each of these two cities a suitable place, within which they may
hire houses, and the distance they may go, shall be arranged by the
British Diplomatic Agent and the Government of Japan.

IV. All questions in regard to rights, whether of property or person,
arising between British subjects in the dominions of His Majesty the
Tycoon of Japan, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the British
authorities.

V. Japanese subjects, who may be guilty of any criminal act towards
British subjects, shall be arrested and punished by the Japanese
authorities according to the laws of Japan.

British subjects who may commit any crime against Japanese
subjects, or the subjects or citizens of any other country, shall be tried
and punished by the Consul, or other public functionary, authorised
thereto, according to the laws of Great Britain.

Justice shall be equitably and impartially administered on both
sides.

VI. A British subject having reason to complain of a Japanese, must
proceed to the Consulate and state his grievance.

The Consul will inquire into the merits of the case, and do his
utmost to arrange it amicably. In like manner, if a Japanese have
reason to complain of a British subject, the Consul shall no less listen
to his complaint, and endeavour to settle it in a friendly manner. If
disputes take place of such a nature that the Consul cannot arrange
them amicably, then he shall request the assistance of the Japanese
authorities, that they may together examine into the merits of the case
and decide it equitably.

VII. Should any Japanese subject fail to discharge debts incurred
to a British subject, or should he fraudulently abscond, the Japan-
ese authorities will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to
enforce recovery of the debts ; and should any British subject fraudu-
lently abscond, or fail to discharge debts incurred by him to a Japanese
subject, the British authorities will, in like manner, do their utmost
to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debts.

Neither the British or Japanese Governments are to be held re-
sponsible for the j)ayment of any debts contracted by British or
Japanese subjects.

314

JAPAN.

[app.

YIII. The Japanese Government will place no restrictions whatever
upon the employment, by British subjects, of Japanese in any lawful
capacity.

IX. British subjects in Japan shall be allowed the free exercise of
their religion, and for this purpose shall have the right to erect
suitable places of worship.

X. All foreign coin shall be current in Japan, and shall pass for its
corresponding weight in Japanese coin of the same description.

British and Japanese subjects may freely use foreign or Japanese
coin, in making payments to each other.

As some time will elapse before the Japanese will become acquainted
with the value of foreign coin, the Japanese Government will, for the
period of one year after the opening of each port, furnish British
subjects with Japanese coin in exchange for theirs, equal weights
being given, and no discount taken for recoinage.

Coins of all description (with the exception of Japanese copper
coin), as well as foreign gold and silver uncoined, may be exported
from Japan.

XI. Supplies for the use of the British navy may be landed at
Kanagawa, Hakodate, and Nagasaki, and stored in warehouses, in the
custody of an officer of the British Government, without the payment
of any duty; but if any such supplies are sold in Japan, the purchaser
shall pay the proper duty to the Japanese authorities.

XII. If any British vessel be at any time wrecked or stranded on
the coasts of Japan, or be compelled to take refuge in any port within
the dominions of the Tycoon of Japan, the Japanese authorities, on
being apprised of the fact, shall immediately render all the assistance
in their power ; the persons on board shall receive friendly treatment^
and be furnished, if necessary, with the means of conveyance to the
nearest Consular station.

XIII. Any British merchant vessel arriving off one of the open
]wrts of Japan shall be at liberty to hire a pilot to take her into port.
In like manner, after she has discharged all legal dues and duties and
is ready to take her departure, she shall be allowed to hire a pilot to
conduct her out of port.

XIV. At each of the ports open to trade, British subjects shall be
at full liberty to import from their own or any other ports, and sell
there, and purchase therein, and export to their own or any other
ports, all manner of merchandise, not contraband, paying the duties
thereon, as laid down in the Tariff annexed to the present Treaty, and
no other charges whatsoever. With the exception of munitions of war,
which shall only be sold to the Japanese Government and foreigners,
they may freely buy from Japanese, and sell to them, any articles
that either may have for sale, without the intervention of any Japanese
officers in such purchase or sale, or in making or receiving payment

APP.]

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

315

for the same; and all classes of Japanese may purchase, sell, keep, or
use any articles sold to them by British subjects.

XV. If the Jaj3anese Custom-house officers are dissatisfied with the
value placed on any goods by the owner, they may place a value^
thereon, and offer to take the goods at that valuation. If the owner
refuses to accept the offer, he shall pay duty on such valuation. If
the offer be accepted by the owner, the purchase money shall be paid
to him without delay, and without any abatement or discount.

XVI. All goods imported into Japan by British subjects, and which
have paid the duty fixed by this Treaty, may be transported by the
Japanese into any part of the Empire without the payment of any tax,
excise, or transit duty whatever.

XVII. British merchants who may have imported merchandise into
any open port in Japan, and paid duty thereon, shall be entitled, on
obtaining from the Japanese Custom-house authorities a certificate
stating that such payment has been made, to re-export the same, and
land it in any other of the open ports without the payment of any
additional duty whatever.

XVIII. The Japanese authorities at each port will adopt the means
that they may judge most proper for the prevention of fraud or
smuggling.

XIX. All penalties enforced, or confiscations made under this
Treaty, shall belong to, and be appropriated by, the Government of
His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan.

XX. The Articles for the regulation of trade which are appended to
this Treaty, shall be considered as forming a part of the same, and
shall be equally binding on both the Contracting Parties to this
Treaty, and on their subjects. The Diplomatic Agent of Great
Britain in Japan, in conjunction with such person or persons as may
be appointed for that purpose by the Japanese Government, shall
have i)ower to make such rules as may be required to carry into full
and complete effect the provisions of this Treaty, and the provisions
of the Articles regulating trade appended thereto.

XXI. This Treaty being written in the English, Japanese, and
Dutch languages, and all the versions having the same meaning and
intention, the Dutch version shall be considered the original ; but it
is understood that all official communications addressed by the Diplo-
matic and Consular Agents of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain
to the Japanese authorities, shall henceforward be written in English.
In order, however, to facilitate the transaction of business, they will,
for a period of five years from the signature of this Treaty, be accom-
panied by a Dutch or Japanese version.

XXII. It is agreed that either of the High Contracting Parties to
this Treaty, on giving one year’s previous notice to the other, may
demand a revision thereof, on or after the first of July, one thousand

316

JAPAN.

APP.

eight hundred and seventy-two, with a view to the insertion therein
of such amendments as experience shall prove to be desirable.

XXIII. It is hereby expressly stipulated that the British Govern-
ment and its subjects will be allowed free and equal participation in
all privileges, immunities, and advantages that may have been, or
may be hereafter, granted by His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, to the
Government or subjects of any other nation.

XXIV. The ratification of this Treaty, under the hand of Her
Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the name
and seal of His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, respectively, shall be
exchanged at Yedo, within a year from this day of signature. In
token whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed
this Treaty.

Done at Yedo, this twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, corresponding to the
Japanese date, the eighteenth day of the seventh month of the fifth
year of Ansei, Tsuchinoye hnma.

Elgin and Kincardine.

Midzuno Chikugo no Kami.

Nagai Gemba no Kami.

Inouye Shinano no Kami.

Hori Oribei no Sho.

IwASE Higo no Kami.

Tsuda Hanzaburo.

EEGULATIONS UNDEE WHICH BEITISH TEADE IS TO
BE CONDUCTED IN JAPAN.

I. Within forty-eight hours (Sundays excepted) after the arrival of
a British ship in a Japanese port, the captain or commander shall
exhibit to the Japanese Custom-house authorities the receipt of the
British Consuls, showing that he has deposited all the ship’s papers,
the ship’s bills of lading, etc., at the British Consulate, and he shall
then make an entry of his ship, by giving a written paper, stating the
name of the ship, and tbe name of the port from which she comes, her
tonnage, the name of her captain or commander, the names of her
passengers (if any), and the number of her crew, which paper shall be
certified by the captain or commander to be a true statement, and
shall be signed by him ; he shall, at the same time, deposit a written
manifest of his cargo, setting forth the marks and numbers of the
packages and their contents, as they are described in his bills of lading,
with the names of the person or persons to whom they are consigned.
A list of the stores of the ship shall be added to the manifest. The

APP.]

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

317

captain or commander shall certify the manifest to be a true account
of all the cargo and stores on board the ship, and shall sign his name
to the same.

If any error is discovered in the manifest, it may be corrected within
twenty-four hours (Sundays excepted) without the payment of any fee,
but for any alteration or post entry to the manifest made after that
time, a fee of fifteen dollars shall be paid.

All goods not entered on the manifest shall pay double duties on
being landed.

Any captain or commander that shall neglect to enter his vessel at
the Japanese Custom-house within the time prescribed by this regula-
tion, shall pay a penalty of sixty dollars for each day that he shall so
neglect to enter his ship.

II. The Japanese Government shall have the right to place Custom-
house officers on board of any ship in their ports (men-of-war excepted).
All Custom-house officers shall be treated with civility, and such
reasonable accommodation shall be allotted to them as the ship
affords.

No goods shall be unladen from any ship between the hours of sunset
and sunrise, except by special permission of the Custom-house
authorities ; and the hatches, and all other places of entrance into
that part of the ship where the cargo is stowed, may be secured by
Japanese officers between the hours of sunset and sunrise, by fixing-
seals, locks, or other fastenings ; and if any person shall, without due
permission, open any entrance that has been so secured, or shall break
or remove any seal, lock, or other fastening that has been affixed by
the Japanese Custom-house officers, every person so offending shall
pay a fine of sixty dollars for each offence.

Any goods that shall be discharged, or attempted to be discharged,
from any ship, without being duly entered at the Japanese Custom-
house, as hereinafter provided, shall be liable to seizure and con-
fiscation.

Packages of goods made up with an intent to defraud the revenue
of Japan, by concealing therein articles of value which are not set forth
in the invoice, shall be forfeited.

If any British ship shall smuggle, or attempt to smuggle, goods in
any of the non-opened harbours of Japan, all such goods shall be
forfeited to the Japanese Government, and the ship shall pay a fine
of one thousand dollars for each offence.

Vessels needing repairs may land their cargo for that purpose,
without the payment of duty. All goods so landed shall remain in
charge of the Japanese authorities, and all just charges for storage,
labour, and supervision shall be paid thereon. But if any portion of
such cargo be sold, the regular duties shall be paid on the portion so
disposed of.

318

JAPAN.

[a IT.

Cargo may be transhipped to another vessel in the same harbour
without payment of duty ; but all transhipments shall be made under
the supervision of Japanese officers, and after satisfactory proof has
been given to the Custom-house authorities of the oond fide nature of
the transaction, and also under a permit to be granted for that purpose
by such authorities.

The importation of opium being prohibited, any British vessel
coming to Japan for the purposes of trade, and having more than
three catties’ weight of opium on board, the surplus quantity may be
seized and destroyed by the Japanese authorities ; and any person or
persons smuggling, or attempting to smuggle opium, shall be liable
to pay a fine of fifteen dollars for each catty of opium so smuggled or
attempted to be smuggled.

III. The owner, or consignee of any goods who desires to land them,
shall make an entry of the same at the Japanese Custom-house. The
entry shall be in writing, and shall set forth the name of the i^erson
making the entry, and the name of the ship in which the goods were
imported, and the marks, numbers, packages, and the contents thereof,
with the value of each package extended, separately in one amount,
and at the bottom of the entry shall be placed the aggregate value of
all the goods contained in the entry. On each entry, the owner or
consignee shall certifiy in writing that the entry then presented
exhibits the actual cost of the goods, and that nothing has been con-
cealed whereby the Customs of Japan would be defrauded, and the
owner or consignee shall sign his name to such certificate.

The original invoice or invoices of the goods so entered shall be
ju’esented to the Custom-house authorities, and shall remain in their
possession until they have examined the goods contained in the entry.

The Japanese officers may examine any or all the packages so
entered, and for this purpose may take them to the Custom-house ;
but such examination shall be without expense to the importer or
injury to the goods, and, after examination, the Japanese shall restore
the goods to their original condition in the packages (so far as may be
practicable), and such examination shall be made without any un-
reasonable delay.

If any owner or importer discovers that his goods have been
damaged on the voyage of importation before such goods have been
delivered to him, he may notify the Custom-house authorities of such
damage, and he may have the damaged goods appraised by two or
more competent and disinterested persons, who, after due examina-
tion, shall make a certificate, setting forth the amount per cent, of
damage on each separate package, describing it by its mark and
number, which certificate shall be signed by the appraisers, in presence
of the Custom-house authorities, and the importer may attach the
certificate to his entry, and make a corresponding deduction from it.

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

319

APP.]

But this shall not prevent the Custom-house authorities from apprais-
ing the goods in the manner provided in Article XV. of the Treaty
to which these Eegulations are appended.

After the duties have been paid, the owner shall receive a permit,
authorising the delivery to him of the goods, whether the same are
at the Custom-house or on shipboard.

All goods intended to be exported shall be entered at the Japanese
custom-house before they are placed on shipboard.

The entry shall be in writing, and shall state the name of the ship
by which the goods are to be exported, with the marks and numbers
of the packages, and the quantity, description, and value of their
contents.

The exporter shall certify, in writing, that the entry is a true
account of all the goods contained therein, and shall sign his name
thereto.

Any goods that are put on board of a ship for exportation before
they have been entered at the Custom-house, and all packages
which contain prohibited articles, shall be forfeited to the Japanese
Government.

No entry at the Custom-house shall be required for supplies for
the use of ships, their crews and passengers, nor for the clothing, etc.,
of passengers.

lY. Ships wishing to clear shall give twenty-four hours’ notice at
the Custom-house, and at the end of that time they shall be entitled
to their clearance ; but if it be refused, the Custom-house authorities
shall immediately inform the captain or consignee of the ship of the
reasons why the clearance is refused; and they shall also give the
same notice to the British Consul.

British ships of war shall not be required to enter or clear at the
Custom-house, nor shall they be visited by Japanese Custom-house
or police officers.

Steamers carrying the mails of Great Britain may enter and clear
on the same day, and they shall not be required to make a manifest,
except for such passengers and goods as are to be landed in Japan.
But such steamers shall, in all cases, enter and clear at the Custom-
house.

Whale ships touching for supplies, or ships in distress, shall not be
required to make a mauifest of their cargo ; but if they subsequently
wish to trade, they shall then deposit a manifest, as required in
Eegulation I.

The word “ ship,” wherever it occurs in these Eegulations, or in
the Treaty to which they are attached, is to be held as meaning ship,
barque, brig, schooner, sloop, or steamer.

V. Any person signing a false declaration or certificate, with the
intent to defraud the revenue of Japan, shall pay a fine of one
hundred and twenty-five dollars for each offence.

320

JAPAN.

[app.

VI. No tonnage duties shall be levied on British ships in the ports
of Japan, but the following fees shall be paid to the Japanese Custom-
house authorities : — For the entry of a ship, fifteen dollars ; for the
clearance of a shi]}, seven dollars ; for each permit, one dollar and a
half ; for each bill of health, one dollar and a half ; for any other
document, one dollar and a half.

VII. Duties shall be paid to the Japanese Government on all goods
landed in the country, according to the following Tariff : —

Class I. All articles in this class shall be free of duty : — Gold and
silver, coined or uncoined ; wearing apparel in actual use ; household
furniture and printed books, not intended for sale, but the property
of persons who come to reside in Japan.

Class II. A duty of five per cent, shall be paid on the following
articles : — All articles used for the purpose of building, rigging,
repairing, or fitting out of ships, whaling gear of all kinds, salted
provisions of all kinds, bread and breadstuff's, living animals of all
kinds, coals, timber for building houses, rice, paddy, steam-machinery,
zinc, lead, tin, raw silk, cotton and woollen manufactured goods.

Class III. A duty of thirty-five per cent, shall be paid on all
intoxicating liquors, whether prepared by distillation, fermentation,
or in any other manner.

Class IV. All goods not included in any of the preceding classes
shall pay a duty of twenty per cent.

All articles of Japanese production which are exported as cargo
shall pay a duty of five per cent., with the exception of gold and
silver coin, and copper in bars.

Eice and wheat, the produce of Japan, shall not be exported from
Japan as cargo, but all British subjects resident in Japan, and British
ships for their crews and passengers, shall be furnished with sufficient
supplies of the same.

Foreign grain brought into any open port of Japan in a British
ship, if no part thereof has been landed, may be re-exported without
hindrance.

The Japanese Government will sell from time to time, at public
auction, any surplus quantity of copi^er that may be produced.

Five years after the opening of Kanagawa, the import and export
duties shall be subject to revision, if either the British or Japanese
Government desires it.

Elgin and Kincardine.

Milzuno Chikugo no Kami.

Nagai Gemba no Kami.

1 NODYE ShINANO NO KaMI.

Hoki Oribei no Sho.

Iwase Higo no Kami.

Tsuda Hanzaburo.

APP.]

TBEATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

321

TAKIFF CONVENTION,

Signed at Yedo, in the English, French, Dutch, and Japanese
Languages, on the 25^7i day of June 1866.

The Representatives of Great Britain, France, of the United States of
America, and Holland, having received from their respective Govern-
ments identical instructions for the modification of the Tariff of
Import and Export Unties contained in the Trade Eegnlations
annexed to the Treaties concluded by the aforesaid Powers with the
Japanese Government in 1858, which modification is provided for by
the Vllth of those Eegnlations ;

And the Japanese Government having given the said Eepresenta-
tives, during their visit to Osaka, in November 1865, a written
engagement to proceed immediately to the Eevision of the Tariff in
question, on the general basis of a duty of five per cent, on the value
of all articles imported or exported ;

And the Government of Japan being desirous of affording a fresh
proof of their wish to promote trade, and to cement the friendly
relations which exist between their country and foreign nations ;

Ilis Excellency Midzuno Idzumi no Kami, a Member of the Gorojiu
and a Minister of Foreign Affairs, has been furnished by the Govern-
ment of Japan with the necessary powers to conclude with the repre-
sentatives of the above-named four Powers, that is to say —

Of Great Britain, Sir Haery S. Parkes, Knight Commander of the
Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Pleni23otentiary in Japan; Of France,
Monsieur Leon Roches, Commander of the Imperial Order of the
Legion of Honour, Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the
Emperor of the French in Japan ; Of the United States of America,
A. L. C. PoRTMAN, Esquire, Charge d’Affaires ad interim ; And of
Holland, Monsieur Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, Knight of the
Order of the Netherlands Lion, Political Agent and Consul General of
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands —

The following Convention, comprising Twelve Articles.

I. The contracting Parties declare, in the names of their respective
Governments, that they accept, and they hereby do formally accept
as binding upon the subjects of their respective Sovereigns, and the
citizens of their respective countries, the Tariff hereby established,
and annexed to the present Convention.

This Tariff is substituted not only for the original Tariff attached
to the Treaties concluded with the above-named four Powers, but also
for the special Conventions and arrangements relative to the same
Tariff, which had been entered into at different dates up to this time,
VOL. II. Y

322

JAPAN.

[app.

between the Governments of Great Britain, France, and tlie United
States on one side, and the Japanese Government on the other.

The New Tarijff shall come into effect in the port of Kanagawa
(Yokohama) on the first day of July next, and in the ports of Naga-
saki and Hakodate on the first day of the following month.

II. The Tariff attached to this Convention being incorporated from
the date of its signature in the Treaties concluded between Japan and
the above-named four Powers, is subject to revision on the fii’st day of
July 1872.

Two years, however, after the signing of the present Convention,
any of the contracting parties, on giving six months’ notice to the
others, may claim a readjustment of the duties on tea and silk, on the
basis of five per cent, on the average value of these articles during
the three years last preceding. On the demand also of any of the
contracting parties, the duty on timber may be changed from an
ad valorem to a specific rate six months after the signature of this
Convention.

III. The permit fee hitherto levied under the YIth Eegulation
attached to the above-named Treaties is hereby abolished. Permits
for the landing or shipment of cargo wdll be required as formerly, but
will hereafter be issued free of charge.

IV. On and from the first day of July next, at the port of Kanagawa
(Y^okohama), and on and from the first day of October next at the
ports of Nagasaki and Hakodate, the Japanese Government will be
prepared to warehouse imj^orted goods on the ai^plication of the
importer or owmer without payment of duty. The Japanese Govern-
ment will be responsible for the safe custody of the goods, so long
as they remain in their charge, and will adopt all the precautions
necessary to render them insurable against fire. When the importer
or the owner wishes to remove the goods from the warehouse, he must
pay the duties fixed by the Tariff ; but if he should wish to re-export
them, he may do so without payment of duty. Storage charges will
in either case be paid on delivery of the goods. The amount of
these charges, together w ith the regulations necessary for the manage-
ment of the said warehouses, will be established by the common con-
sent of the contracting parties.

V. All articles of Japanese production may be conveyed from any
place in Japan to any of the ports open to foreign trade, free of any
tax or transit duty other tlian the usual tolls levied equally on all
traffic for the maintenance of roads or navigation.

VI. In conformity with those Articles of the Treaties concluded
betw^een Japan and Foreign Powers wiiich stipulate for the circulation
of foreign coin at its corresponding weight in native coin of the same
description, dollars have hitherto been received at the Japanese Custom-
house in payment of duties at their weight in Boos (commonly called

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS.

323

Arp.]

Ichiboos), thfit is to say, at a rate of Three Hundred and Eleven Boos
per Hundred Dollars. The Japanese Government being, however,
desirous to alter this practice, and to abstain from all interference in
the exchange of native for foreign coin, and being also anxious to meet
the wants both of native and foreign commerce by securing an
adequate issue of native coin, have already determined to enlarge the
Japanese Mint, so as to admit of the Japanese Government exchanging
into native coin of the same intrinsic value, less only the cost of coinage,
at the places named for this purpose, all foreign coin or bullion in gold
or silver that may at any time be tendered to them by foreigners or
Japanese. It being essential, however, to the execution of this measure,
that the various Powers with whom Japan has concluded Treaties
should first consent to modify the stipulations in those Treaties which
relate to the currency, the Japanese Government will at once propose
to those Powers the adoption of the necessary modification in the said
stipulations, and on receiving their concurrence will be prepared, from
the first of January 1868, to carry the above measure into effect.

The rates to be charged as the cost of coinage shall be determined
hereafter by the common consent of the contracting parties.

VII. In order to put a stop to certain abuses and inconveniences
complained of at the open ports, relative to the transaction of business
at the Custom-house, the landing and shipping of cargoes, and the
hiring of boats, coolies, servants, etc., the contracting parties have
agreed that the Governor at each open port shall at once enter into
negotiations with the foreign Consuls, with a view to the establish-
ment, by mutual consent, of such regulations as shall effectually put
an end to these abuses and inconveniences, and afford all possible
facility and security, both to the operations of trade and to the trans-
actions of individuals.

It is hereby stipulated that, in order to protect merchandise from
exposure to weather, these regulations shall include the covering in at
each port of one or more of the landing-places used by foreigners for
landing or shipping cargo.

VIII. Any Japanese subject shall be free to purchase, either in the
open ports of Japan or abroad, every description of sailing or steam
vessel intended to carry either passengers or cargo ; but ships of war
may only be obtained under the authorisation of the Japanese
Government.

All foreign vessels imrchased by Japanese subjects shall be registered
as Japanese vessels, on payment of a fixed duty of three boos per ton
for steamers, and one boo per ton for sailing vessels. The tonnage of
each vessel shall be proved by the foreign register of the ship, which
shall be exhibited through the Consul of the party interested on the
demand of the Japanese authorities, and shall be certified by the
Consul as authentic.

Y 2

324

JAPAN.

[app.

IX. In conformity with the Treaties concluded between Japan and
the aforesaid Powers, and with the special arrangements made by the
Envoys of the Japanese Government in their note to the British
Government of the sixth of June 1862, and in their note to the
French Government of the sixth of October of the same year, all the
restrictions on trade and intercourse between foreigners and Japanese
alluded to in the said notes have been entirely removed, and pro-
clamations to this effect have already been published by the Govern-
ment of Japan.

The latter, however, do not hesitate to declare that Japanese
merchants and traders of all classes are at liberty to trade directly,
and without the interference of Government ofiScers, with foreign
merchants, not only at the open ports of Japan, but also in all foreign
countries, on being authorised to leave their country in the manner
provided for in Article X. of the present Convention, without being
subject to higher taxation by the Japanese Government than levied on
the native trading classes in Japan in their ordinary transactions with
each other.

And they further declare that all daimios or persons in the employ
of daimios are free to visit, on the same conditions, any foreign
country, as well as all the open ports of Japan, and to trade there with
foreigners as they please, without the interference of any Japanese
officer, provided always they submit to the existing police regulations,
and to the payment of the established duties.

X. All Japanese subjects may shij) goods to or from any open port
in Japan, or to and from the ports of any foreigu Power, either in
vessels owned by Japanese or in the vessels of any nation having a
Treaty with Japan. Furthermore, on being provided with passports
through the proper department of the Government, in the manner
specified in the Proclamation of the Japanese Government, dated the
twenty-third day of May 1866, all Japanese subjects may travel to
any foreign country for purposes of study or trade. They may also
accept employment in any capacity on board the vessels of any nation
having a Treaty with Japan.

Japanese in the emi^loy of foreigners may obtain Government
passports to go abroad on application to the Governor of any open
port.

XI. The Government of Japan will provide all the ports open to
foreign trade with such lights, buoys, or beacons as may be necessary
to render secure the navigation of the apj^roaches to the said ports.

XII. The undersigned being of opinion that it is unnecessary that
this Convention should be submitted to their respective Governments
for ratification before it comes into operation, it will take effect on
and from the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
six.

App.] TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS. 325

Each of the Contracting Parties having obtained the approval of his
Government to this Convention, shall make known the same to the
others, and the communication in writing of this approval shall take
the place of a formal exchange of ratifications.

In Witness whekeof the above-named Plenipotentiaries have
signed the present Convention, and have affixed thereto their seals.

Done at Yedo, in the English, French, Dutch, and Japanese
languages, this twenty-fifth day of June, one thousand eight hundred
sixty-six.

(L. S.)

Harry S. Parkes,

Her Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan.

(L. S.)

Leon Eoches,

Ministre PUnipotentiaire de S. M. VEmpereur
des Fran^ais au Japon.

(L. S.)

A. L. C. PORTMAN,

Charge d’Affaires a. i. of the United States
in Japan.

(L. S.)

D. DE GrAEFF VAN POLSBROEK,
Politick Agent en Consul Oeneraal der Neder-
landen in Japan.

(L. S.)

Midzuno Idzdmi NO Kami.

326

JAPAN.

[app.

LIST OF EMPERORS.

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Ei*a.

Jimmu ....

B.c. 660 1

Suslmu ....

1248

! 588

Suisei ....

581 i

Suiko (Empress) .

1253

593

Amiei ....

112

548 1

Jomei ....

: 1289

629

Itoku ....

150

510 i

Kokioku *"1

Koshio ....

185

475 i

(Empress)/ ' ’ ^

1 X%j\)u

Koan ....

268

392 '

Kotoku ....

1305

645

Korei ....

370

290 '

Saimei * (Empress)

1315

655

Kogeii ....

416

214

Tenji . . . . |

1328

668

Kaikua ....

503

157 !

Kobun . . . . 1

1332

672

Sujin ....

563

97 1

Tern mil. ...

1333

673

Suiuin ....

629

Jito (Empress) . ,

1350

690

Keiko ....

731

A D. 71 !

Mommu . . . j

1357

697

Seimu ....

791

! 131

Gemmei (Empress) |

1368 j

708

Cliuai ....

852

192

Gensho (Empress)

1375

715

J ingu (Empress) .

861

201

Shomii .... I

1384

724

OJiii

930

270

Koken f (Empress) :

1409 !

749

Nintoku

j 973

313

Jimjin ....

1419

759

Ricliiu ....

! 1060

400

Shotoku t 1

Hansbo ....

i 1065

405 i

(Empress) j

/ oo

Inkiyo ....

1 1071

411 !

Ivoniu ....

1430 1

770

Auko ....

I 1113

453

[ Kuwammu ...

1442 1

782

Yariaku

1116

456

Heizei ....

1466

806

Seine! ....

1140

480 1

Saga ;

1470 i

810

Kenso ....

1145

485 i

1 Juima . . . . i

1484 i

824

Niuken ....

1148

488 1

Nimmio ...

1494 '

834

Buretsu.

1159

499

1 Montoku ...

1511 j

851

Keitai ....

1167

507 i

Seiwa . . . . |

1519

859

Ankau ....

1194

534

Yozei ....

1537 I

877

Seiikuwa .

]196

536 !

Koko ....

1545 '

885

Kimmei

1200

540 :

Uda 1

1553 1

893

Bitatsu ....

1232

572 !

Daigo . . . . 1

1558 i

898

Yomei ....

1246

1 586 i

Sliujaku . . . 1

1591 !

931

* The names thus marked belonged to the same empress, who reigned twice.
See vol. i. }>. 108.

t The names thus marked likewise belonged to the same empress. See vol. i.

p. no.

LIST OF EMFEROBS.

327

Al'P.]

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

Murakami .

1607

947

SOUTHERN DYNASTV.

Reizei ....

1628

968

Go-Murakami .

1999

1 1339

Enijiu ....

1630

970

Go-Kameyama.

2028

1368

Kuwazan .

1645

985

Ichijo ....

1649

987

NORTHERN DYNASTY.

Sanjo ....

1672

1012

Komio ....

1996

1336

Go-’ichijo * .

1677

1017

Sbuko ....

2009

1349

Go-Slmjaku

1697

1037

Go-Kuwoogen .

2012

1352

Go-Eeizei .

1706

1046

Go-Enyu

2032

1372

Go-Sanjo .

1729

1069

Go-Komatsii .

2053

1393

Shirakawa ...

1783

1073

Go-Komatsu .

2053

1393

Horikawa ...

1747

1087

Sboko ....

2073

1413

Toba ....

1769

1108

Go-Hanazono .

2089

1429

Shutoku ...

1784

1124

Go-Tsiicl 1 i-Mikado

2125

1465

Konoye. ...

1802

1142

Go-Kasliiwabara .

2161

1501

Go-Shiraka\va .

1816

1156

Go-Nara

2187

1527

Nigo ....

1819

1159

Oki-Maclii ...

2218

1558

Rokiijio

1826

1166

Go-Yozei ...

2247

1587

Takakiira .

1829

1160

Go-Miwo ...

2272

1612

Antoku ....

1841

1181

Mioslio (Empress).

2290 i

1630

Go-Toba ...

1846

1186

Go-Komio .

2304

1644

Tsuclii-Mikado

1859

1199

Gozai-in ...

2315 j

1655

Juiitoku . . . !

1871

1211

Reigen ....

2323 1

1663

Cliukio ....

1881

1221

Higasbiyama .

2347

1687

Go- Horikawa .

1881

1221

Naka-Mikado .

2370 1

1710

Shijo . . . . i

1891

1231

Sakura-Machi .

2396 1

1736

Go-Saga . . . ;

1904

1244

Momozouo .

2407 1

1747

Go-Fukakusa . . i

1907

1247

Go - Sakura-Machi

Kameyama. . . I

1926

1266

(Empress) .

2423 1

1763

Go-Uda. ...

1930

1270

Go-Momozono .

2431 t

1771

Fushimi . . . i

1948

1288

Kokaku.

2440 j

1780

Go-Fiisliimi . . i

1950

1299

Niako ....

2477

1817

Go-Nijo. . . . ;

1961

1301

Komei ....

2507

1847

Hanazono . . . ;

1968

1308

Mutsu - Hito (the

Go-Daigo ...

1979

1319

present Emperor)

2527

1867

Equivalent to “ Ichijo the Second.” See footnote, vol. i. p. 112.

328

JAPAN.

[app.

LIST OF YEAK-PEEIODS.

The Japanese have two modes of reckoning time in years: one hy means
of 12 year cycles, named after the twelve signs of the Japanese Zodiac ;
the other by means of short periods of arbitrary length, varying from one
to twenty years, or even more. Each of these latter periods is dis-
tinguished by a name given by the Mikado. The present one {Meiji)
commenced Oct. 12, 1868.

Name,

Taikiia .
Hakuchi
Sujaka .
llakulio
Shuclio .
Taikua . .

Taicho .
Taiho .
Kei-un .
Wado .

Hoki . .

Yozo
J inki
Tenpio .
Tenpio Slioho
Tenpio Hoji
Tenpio Jingo
Jingo Kei-un
Hoki . .

Teno

Yenriyaku .
Dnido .
Kuonin .
Tenclio
Jowa
Kaslio .
Nin-ju .

Saiko .
Tenan .
Jokiian .

Ninna .

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

, Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

1805

615

Kuanpei

1519

889

1810

650

Shiotai .

1558

898

1882

672

Yengi .

1561

901

1888

678

: Yenclio .

1588

923

1816

686

I Shioliei .

1591

931

1855

695

j Tengio .

1598

938

1857

697

j I’en Riyaku

1607

917

1861

701

, Tentoku

1617

957

1862

701

i Wowa .

1621

961

1868

708

! Kobo . .

1621

961

1875

715

Anwa .

1628

968

1877

717

, Tenroku

1680

970

1881

721

j Tenyen .

1683

973

1889

729

1 Jogen .

1636

976

1109

719

Tengeu .

1688

978

1117

757

Yeikuan

1613

988

1125

765

[ Kuanwa

1615

985

1127

767

Yeiyen .

1617

987

1180

770

Yeiso

1619

989

1111

781

Sidoriyaku .

1650

990

1112

782

Chotoku

1655

995

1166

806

1 C hollo .

1659

999

1170

810

Knanko .

1661

1001

1181

821

Chowa .

1672

1012

1191

881

Kuan nil! .

1677 '

1017

1508

818

Chian .

1681

1021

1511

851

Manju .

• i

1681 1

1021

1511

851 '

Cliogen .

• I

1688 1

1028

1517

857 ;

Clioriyaku .

• j

1697

1037

1519

859

CJiokiu .

1700 1

1010

1587

877

Kuantokii .

1701

1011

1515 1

885

Y enjo

1706

1016

APP.]

LIST OF YEAR-PERIODS.

329

Name.

.2 ^ c

QJ ^ ^

C3 Oi

Q 2

bO^

oTS

Name.

Tenki .

1713

1053

Kenyei .

1866

1206

Koliei .

1718

1058

Shogen .

1867

1207

Chiriyaku

•

1725

1065

Keuriyaku

1871

1211

Yenkiu .

1729

1069 ^

Keupo .

1873

1213

J oho

1731

1071

Jokiu .

1879

1219

Joriyaku

1737

1077

Jowo

1882

1222

Yeiho .

1711

1081

Gennin .

1884

1224

Otoku .

1711

1081

Karoku .

1885

1225

Kuauji .

1717

1087

Antei .

1887

1227

Kalio

1751

1091

Kuaiiki .

1889

1229

Yeicho .

1756

1096

1 Joyei

1892

1232

SI 1 otoku

1757

1097

' Tenpuku

1893

1233

Kowa .

1759

1099

Bunriyaku

1894

1234

Choji .

1761

1101

Katei .

1895

1235

Kajo
Tennin .

1766

1106

! liiyakunin

1898

1238

1768

1108 i

Yenwo .

1899

1239

Tenyei .

1770

1110 1

Ninji

1900

1240

Ycikiu .

1773

1113 1

' Kuangeu

1903

1243

Genyei .

1778

1118 1

: Hoji. .

1907

1247

Ho-an .

1780

1120 ^

Kencho .

1909

1249

Tenji .

1781

1121 1

' Kogeii .

1916

1256

Daiji
Tensho .

1786

1126

Shoka .

1917

1257

1791

1131

Shogen .

1919

1259

Clioslio .

1792

1132

Bunwo .

1920

1260

Hoyen .

1795

1135

Kocho .

1921

1261

Yeiji

1801

1111

Bunyei .
Kenji .

1924

1264

Koji. .
Tenyo .
Kiuan .

1802

1112

1935

1275

1801

1111

Ko-an .

1938

1278

1805

1115

Showo .

1948

1288

Ninpei .

1811

1151 1

! Yeinin .

1953

1293

Khiju .

1811

1151

Sho-an .

1959

1299

Hogen .

1816

1156

Kengen.

1962

1302

Heiji .

1819

1159 !

Kagen .

1963

1303

Yeiriyaku

1820

1160

Tokuji .

1966

1306

Oyei. .

1821

1161 1

; Yenkei .

1968

1308

Cliokuau

1823

1163

Ocho

1971

1311

Yeimau .

1825

1165

Showa .

1972

. 1312

Niuau .

1826

1166

Bimpo .

1977

1317

Kawo .

1829

1169 1

Gen wo .

1979

1319

Sho-an .

1831

1171 '

Genko .

1981

1321

Angeu .

1835

1175

1 Shochu .

1984

1324

Jijo .

1837

1177 i

Kareki .

1986

1326

Yowa

1811

1181

Geiitoku

1989

1329

Juyei .

1812

1182 I

j Genko .

1991

1331

IMoiiji .
Keukiu .

1815

1856

1185 !
1190 1

! Kemmu.

1994

1334

Shoji .

1859

1199 1

SOUTHERN DYNASTY.*

Keuuiii .

1861

1201 i

Yengen

1996

1336

Geiikiii .

1861

1204 i

Kokoku.

2000

i 1340

bn 3
•| a; 2

■2

Q S

r-r-T

‘2 ^
c .2
‘So M

OJ -T"
2

03 rS^

Q .-2

* There were two dynasties during the time (1336-39 A.D.), and separate year-
periods were used.

330

JAPAN.

[ait.

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

Name.

Date, beginning
with the
Emperor Jimmu.

Date, beginning
with Christian Era.

Slioliei ....

2006

1346

Koji

2215

1555

Kentokii

2030

1370

1 Yeiroku

2218

1558

Bimchu.

2032

1372

i Genki ....

2230

1570

Tenjii ....

2035

1375

1 Tensho ....

2233

1573

Kowa ....

2041

1381

1 Bimroku

2252

1592

Gcncliu.

2044

1384

1 Keicho ....

2256

1596

Genna ....

2275

1615

NOItTHERN DYNASTV.

Kuanyei

2284

1624

Rekiwo ....

1998

1338 !

Shoho ....

2304

1644

Koyei ....

i 2002

1342 1

Kei-au ....

2308

1648

Teiwa ....

1 2005

1345

Sliowo ....

2312

1652

Kuan wo

2010

1350

Meireki. . .

2315

1655

Yenbiin.

2016

1356 i

Maiiji ....

2318

1658

Owa

2021

1361 i

Kuanbuu .

2321

1661

Toji

; 2022

! 1362 1

Yenpo ....

2333

1673

0-an ....

2028

i 1368 I

Tenwa ....

2341

1681

Yeiwa ....

2035

1375

Jokio

2344

1684

Koreki ....

2039

1379 '

Tenroku

2348

1688

Yeitoku.

2041

1381

Hoyei ....

2364

1704

Sliitoku.

2044 j

1384 j

Sbotoku

2371

1711

Kakei ....

2047

1387 !

Hokio ....

2376

1716

Kowo ....

2049

1389 {

Genbun.

2396

1736

Miotoku

2050 1

1390 :

Kuanpo.

2401

1741

Oyen ....

2054 i

1394 i

Yenkio.

2404

1744

Seicho ....

2088 ?

1428 ;

Kuanyen

2408

1748

Yeikiyo. . . . i

2089 1

1429 1

Horeki ....

2411

1751

Kakitsu . . j

2101 ;

1441

Meiwa ....

2424

1764

Buuan ....

2104 1

1444 1

Anyei ....

2432

1772

Hotoku . . . . 1

2109

1449 '

Tenmei

2441

1781

Kiotoku. . . ^ 1

2112 ;

1452 :|

Kuansei

2449

1789

Kosho . . . . j

2115 ;

1455 i

Kiowa ....

2461

1801

Clioroku . . . I

2117 1

1457

Buukua.

2464

1804

Kuansho . . . :

2120

1460 1

Bunsei ^ . . .

2478

1818

Bunslio . . . . 1

2126

1466 1

Tenpo ....

2490

1830

Onin ....

2127

1467 !

Koka ....

2504

1844

Bunmei. . . . |

2129

1469 1

Kayei ....

2508

1848

Cliokio ’. . . . 1

2147

1487 1

Ansei ....

2514

1854

Yeutoku . . . j

2149

1489 1

IManyei ....

2520

1860

Miowo . . . . j

2152

1492 ,

Bunkiu ....

2521

1801

l^uiiki . . . . !

2161

1501 !

Genji ....

2524

1864

Yeisci ....

2164

1504

Keiwo . . . . '

2525

1865

'i’aiyei . . . . ^

2181

1521

Meiji . . . . 1

2528

1868

J^^ioroku . . . :

2188

1528

Moiji, ninth year . i

2536

1876

Toubim. . . . '

2192

1532 !

( 331 )

COMPAEATIYE TABLE OF WOKDS IN JAPANESE,
WEST AFEICAN, AND OTHEE LANGUAGES.

Prepared for this Work hy Hyde Clarke, Esq., V.-Pres. Anthropological
Institute, Corr. Mem. American Oriental Soc.

English. |

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

Child . . . 1

ko . . . .

nego, Toma,
mo-koa, Balii. j

Boy . . . .

waratse

woronorun, Akurz-
kiira.

Elder brother .

kei ....

ani .

hoyo, Mandenga.
oke, Isoama.
yaka, Bonin,
miane, Ishiele.
nia, Abese.

Younger brother

tsi . . . .

pantsi, Nyombe.
kadshi, Kupa.

Servant . . .

sill ....

dshoiio, Mandenga,
etc.

nsamp, Pajade.
dshon, Soso,
ashunku, Banyun.
issung, Berber.

King. . . .

kami

komasa, Mandenga.
fankama, Pajade.
nkumu, Bumbete.
dnkumu, Bumbete.
nkoma, Nyomban.
kamambuku, Un-
daza.

Cod ....

shivo . .

oshowo, Ekamtu-
lufu ....
oshowo, Udom.
nsambi, Kasanj,etc.
njambi, Babuma.
ndzambi, Nyombe.
saba, Phrygian
saba, Prisco-PIel-
lenic ....
saba, Lydian .

seb, Egypt . . .

assabi, Ethiopian .

siva, Indian,
saba, Arabic.

The following (
American
shiwa, Mexico.

sibu, Bribri. '
sibu, Cabccar.
zibo, Tiribi.
zuba, Terraba.
sibo, Brunka.

Central

America.

332

JAPAN.

[app.

English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

Sky ....

sora ....

sar, Jelana, etc. .
dshensara, do.

zeru, Basque,
sorgi, Dhimal.

1 sarang, Magar.
sarangi, Sunwar.
sarange, Eajmahali.
sargam, Rutluk.
sirma, Kol.
sarg, Chentsu.
sarag, Newar.

Foot ....

asi .
ac/a’.

(shanna, Loo-
cho)

sonkonyo, Toronka
(sauna soso, leg ?).

shan, Annam.
tacZiang, Naga.
aji, Savara.
hejje, Karnataka.

Mouth . .

j huti
1 liuchi .

Icedshi, Bornu
uas/me, Mandenga

kuga, Garo.
khouga, Bodo.
j kha, Takpa.

Shoulder

laitta .

Imtta^ Nyamban.
kosoe, Ngola.
liata, Matatan.
Icatana, Mano.

Ilaud , . .

ta ... .

te ...

clcei, Babuma .
koe, Gio, etc. . .

^agi, Tene .

fayuk, Gyarung.
da, Brahui.
tekka, Naga.
A:aKumi.
tay, Annam.
kha, Ahor., etc.
ti, Kol, etc.

Belly . . .

fara

pura, Mose.
fure, Okuloma.
tefunu, Ashantee.
for, Jelana.
furi, Soso.
puri, Kisi.

Blood

tsi ....
chee ....

aze, Oloma .
sdsi, Oloma
02:a^■, Ihewe
Cisheyi, Mandenga
eds/i/, Eshitako .
ndze, Momenya .

azu, Naga.
tashi, Gyarung.
usu, Choiiras}a.
child, Bhramu.
chi, Garo.

chui, Deoria Chutia.

Skin ....

kawa .

ngewe, Momenya .
neJcuive, Matatan .
Jcoro, Kisi .

Jwro, Toma.
okuha, Orunga

koppa, Serpa.
tagap, Naga.
kwakte, Chourasya.
komho, Lepcha.
chapta, Uraon.

Breast . . .

moiie .

mean, Kisi.
nine, Toma.

Boue . . . :

houe

akuau, Bayon .
hoare, Soso. |

wan, Naga.

APP.]

COMPARATIVE TABLE OE LANGUAGES.

333

English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

Neck

kabi

kale (Looclioo)

kapuru, Toma,
kompol, Mano.
koerambi, Soso.

kase, Soso,
kano, Mandenga.
kougo, Okuloma.

Fire . . .

hi ... .

fene, Okuloma.
veia, Bongo,
firi, Bonny.

fi . . . .

afu, ManJara.
wia, Diwala.
ive, Benin,
veva, Baseke.

Water .

mizzu .

mazea, Kabunga .
maza, Mimboma.

atzu, Naga.

raazi, Meto, etc.
mingi, Okuloma.
mendan, Kosi.

Day •. . .

ka . . . .

kan, Bornu.

nhi, Newar,

fi . . . .

afo, Sobo .

nyi, Chepang.

hi ... .

furo, Toma

anyi, Naga.

nitsi

notsu, Ngoala .

natlii, Sunwar.

Night . . .

yo . . . .

yoro, Guresa .

yotin.

yoru .

nyoru, Gurma .

jori, Manchu.
dobori, Manchu.

irahu, Egbira .

ya, Chepang.

naifore, Soso .

phiru, Lhopa.

ohuora, Orungu .

j)har, Garo.

eridai, Egbele

ira, Tamil, etc.

Village .

mura .

maro, Barba
muri, Kiriman.

merong, Singpho,

muri, Melon .

uri, Basque.

House ,

iya . . . .

ua, Boko,
oyo, Abaja.

taku .

hu, Timbuktu,
kata, Nupe.
daki, Houssa.

Iron

tetsu .

sisu, Barba,
asho, Juku.
kitsulo, Marawi.
su, Bornu.
sisu, Barba., etc.

shi, Manyak.

Stone

ishi

adshie, Koro .
dudsi, Houssa.

kache, Naga.

Moon

hsuki.

1 otsoki (Loo-
j choo)

isogo, Yarriba.

suru. Barba,
iguki, Oloma.
sung, Mandenga.

334

JAPAN.

API*.

English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

Sand

sona

sonma, Bagba.

sinna (Loo-

choo) .

nsagi, Muntun, etc.
shionde, Kisi.

Yam

imo . . .

yomo, Baseke .

thoma, Thibet.

tsu-kemono

aso, Ngoala

homan, Shan.

ekama, Filham.

shi, Naga.

Door

kado .

kogu, Koro

ka, Akkad.

to ... .

ko, Manclenga.

te . . . .

kitseko, Marawi.
kendara, Kono.

kodia, Soso,
kondo, Kisi.

Itcli ....

kaya .

kuo, Musu.
kato, Mandenga.
gaye, Pulo.
kasua, Houssa.
kasgun, Bornu.
kasi, Soso.

Medicine .

kusuri .

sera, Kisi.
share, Soso,
sali, sare, Abese.
sorum, Karekarc.

Monkey .

saru . .

sirowa, Bijogo .

Sara, Kuri.

on-shere, Egbira .

sarrha, Kol.

sula, Mandenga.

saheu, Lepcha.

Mouse . . ,

no ... .

ene, Boko.

Rat ....

nino, Mandenga.
no, Guresa.

Elepliant .

zo . . . .

se, esc, Ngoala .
se, Toma.

tsu, Naga.

so, Nhalemoe.
osues, Alege.
esua, Nki.

(So Tiriht, Central
America, tapir.)

Bull. . . .

sai .

sa, Kandin.

Buffalo .

wo-osi ...

wosanqne, Baseke. 1
okeshu, Ishiele. |

suij^ue ...
(wo-oslii, Loo- ;

esuvve, Subo.

Cow ....

chon.) i

ushi . . . i

misi, Bambaia.

masi, Naga.

me-usi .
(mi-oclii, Loo-
choo) . . .

esuwe, Subo

mosa, Cliupang.
musho. Bode,
chuma, Serpa.
mosu,Deoria Cbutia.

Cat ....

nekko . .

nyago, Momenya . 1
nyanguma, Bam-

nyen, 'Jdioungthu.

bawa ....

ningyau, Singpho.

unogbo, Sobo. |

nyayo, Kisi. '

APP.] COMPARATIVE TABLE OF LANGUAGES.

335

English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

—

Dog ....

inu ....

moinn.

(ing, Loochoo)

mengu, Ngoala.

Bird ....

tori . .

tori, Pulo .
nwori, Toma .
tore, Soso.

chori, Basque,
chari, Darhi, etc.

Snake .

hebi .

(= fish) febi .

kowo, Kisi.
uwa, Giiresa.
ewa, Goali.
ewu, Koro.

Fish ....

siwo

siowo, Goali

sapa, Pakhya.
sapa, Tliaru.
sapa, Chentsu.

(= snake)

nwo

suNvo, Kisi .
yewo, Mandenga .
soa, I3arba.
nsi, Wi Sagara.
iwowo, Egbira.

To-day . . .

kon-nichi .

nano, Oloma .
nume, Sobo.
nyanse, Nyamban .
1 ku, Boriiu.

enengi, Manchii.
innaki, Tamil.

Yesterday .

sakn-siohii

siika, Goali.
matsega, Babuma.

To-morrow .

myo-nichi .

nesii, Yerukala.

No ... .

nai ....

na, Mano .

nil, Georgian.

Not . . . .

na .

na, Abese .

na, Knswar.

suruna .

ne, Bornn .
serunn, Kra
yerunu, Krebo .

nail, Kooch.
nonga, Naga.
nao, Kami.

Groat .

oki ....
ooi ....
day ....

oku, Isoama.
okokoi, Sobo.
akolo, Kono.

Small . . .

saino-dsi .

isone, Isuwu .

osokhou, Manchu.

sai-hito

dshetito, Pangela .

syouti, Gy ami.

tsiisa .

dshi-dsho, Kabcnda
asoso, Oloma .
os:e, Sobo .
oshobere, Kisi .

sanu, Ikikhya.
sui, Naga.
saiika, Uraon.
saui, Knri.

White . . .

siro

set ire, Tene.
fera, Timne.
ma-zela, Kasanj, etc.
I pan-tera, Baga.
tali, Hoiissa.

Black .

kuroi .

kuru kurn, Oku-

kuro .

loma ....
kereshe, Aloje .

kara, Turkish,
kariya, Tliaru.
inokliara, Uraon.

Good . . ,

1 yo . . . .

eye, Ashantee .
i e-nyu, Anfue.

yo, Magyar.

336

JAPAN.

[app.

• English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

—

Bad ....

waru .

i waira, Pa jade.
' wori, Mampa.

Greedy .

siva

j saweneh, Miirundu.

tsawii, Bornu.-
i songoau, Kisi.

Hot ....

atsui .

i ososo, Sobo .

Ic'fsa, Naga.

nuku .

dshou, Bornu .

! oclshu, Baghrnii.

esiese, Gio.
i dukuna, Houssa.

tetsok, Naga.

Cold . . .

samii ...

esime, Isiiwu .

masunu, Yerukala,
sim, Thaksya.
semba, Limbn.
siraba, Murmi.

sabu ...

samsu, Bornu .
sumane, Mandenga
adsoabet, Kanyop .

Straight

niasugu . . '

masegi, Kambali .
sung-amini, Mira- j

dshok, Bornu . . J

saiko, Gondi.

sukaga, Keikadi.
kasumi, Madi.

Crooked

magalie .

gongoro, Timbuktu [

vankara, Yerukala.

magaro . . j

okure, Kra . . . j

kerigata, Bornu . |

kokurai, Deoria
Chutia.
koikolo, Naga.
makur, Basque.

Old ....

furu . . . 1

oyu • • .

oitaru . . . 1

eru, Ngoala.
wuara, Bornu.
kiari.
fori, Soso.

New
Young .

arata . . . ‘

yareade, Whydah.

Sleep

neri . . . '

sinoro, IMandenga . j

nama, Semitic.

iiemu . . . '

kenem, Bornu .
daniraa, Pulo .
tamese, Sobo.
nawunui’o, Akura-
kura.

nyan, Tibetan,
nawa, Bhramu.

Speak .

ivi . . . . j

owo, IMbamba .
rave, Yasgua.
we, Mano.
ha we, Nhalomoe.

hawe, Khyeng.

Toll ....

mangatalo . ;
nannaworusa . ■

raagaua, Houssa.
nenian, Bornu.
man, Bornu.

Give . . . 1

yaru ...
ataye ...
tamave

yaru, Bini.
yeri, Murundo.
eyere, Aro.
dimamo, Ashantee.
(lima, INIandenga.

Drink ...

noini .

nyoma, Isuwu .
numu, Momenya .
nuin, Ashantee.

nomn, Amoy,
punainu, Khoiid.

App.] COMPARATIVE TABLE OE LANGUAGES.

337

English.

Japanese.

African.

Indian, etc.

Come . .

kurii .
tsuki .

gire, Kra, etc. .
j saka, Houssa.
iseski, Bornu.

karo, Naga.

Go ... .

yuki .

ko, Timne, etc.

kas, Naga.

iku.

1 ko, Landoma .

! eka, Rajmabali.

susumi.

Ivo, Ashantee .
shaimi, Ham .

yenga, Bbramu.

Play. . . .

asobi .

sabaso, Kisi.
sowero, Marawi.
sewa, Orungu.
gun-shab, Balu.

i •

Sell ....

uri ....

fereke, Maudenga.
fere, Teiie.

Boil. . . .

Cook . . ,

ni .

na, Ekamtulufu.

nua, Ashantee.
ny, Sobo.
nyin, Soso.

Sit .

swam .

dsbara, Le^ba . .

' dsbara, Kasm.
dsbowo, Kiamba.
susoan, Oloma.

eserri, Basque.

See ....

mi ....
mini . . . ;

mo. Why dab, etc.
sbimora, Pangela.

Love

so .

suki . , . 1

so, Houssa.
se, Toma,
soge, Mano.
sbotka. Bode.

Strike .

tRtfi • . . !

tudsa, Kanyup. . |

tatup, Gyaiamg.

Beat. . . .

utsi . . . 1

buto, Man donga . j

tat, Mon.
teda, Savara.
thattu, Malabar.

Understand.

wakaru

kadensui’u . . !

woeri, Gbe.
dsboro, Orungu.

Laugh .

waravi . . |

yuwuru, Bornu.
nnarawi, Yasgua.
yurasan, Ekamtu-
lufu. !

Kill ....

korosii . . !

kuri, Gurma.
kur, Jelana

kolusu, Yerukala.

Cry . . . -.

Weep .

naku ...

akua, Isoama .

negaregin, Basque.
nagh, Braliui.

Run ....

fashiri .

sbiran, Oloma .

korri, Basque.

kakorii

berase, Toma .
kurde, Pajade.

ghure, Dumi.
garitaa, Mon.

VOL. II.

338

JAPAN.

[app.

CELEBEATED SWOEDS AND MAKEES.

The following are the notes I promised, in Chapter XI., Yol. II., to
giye. They are taken from Mr. Pfonndes’s ^ Fu so Mimi Bnknro.’

Old weapons are frequently presented to Kami shrines, especially
those dedicated to Hachiman and Dai-jin Gu.

The following are some of the numberless renowned blades and their
forgers.

Ama-kuni of Yamato, who liyed about 700 a.d., was a celebrated
maker. One of his blades is said to have been carried off by a crow
during the reign of Kanmu-Tenno, 782 a.d., and has since been known
by the name of the Kogarasu mam* (little crow). In 940 a.d. Taira
Sadamori became the possessor of this sword, which was drawn by
him in the wars with Masakado, who was until lately deified at Kanda,
Yedo.

Shin-soku, who lived at Usa no Mia of Buzen, was ordered to forge
a blade for the son of the emperor Heizei-Tenno in 806 a.d., and he
cut his name on the blade, the first time this was done. There is a
legend that Eiu Jinf came to his assistance.

Of ninety-nine swords he is said to have made, only eight had his
name on them, and the Hachiman shrines are named as being in
possession of most of these blades, many of which are now little else
than a mass of rust.$

* Names were given to swords, as
to vessels, horses, and other favourite
possessions, the commonly used affix
want meaning “ perfect” in this sense,
and still used for ships. Formerly
even the young sons of nobles were
thus styled, as Take chi yo maru, a
common title for the heir to the Toku-
gawa line ; as also to castles, such as
Hon maru (true perfect) or Nishi
maru (west perfect).

t Riu Jin is the same as the old
man living at the bottom of the sea
in Riugu (Dragon Shrine). The father
of Toyotama hlme Hiko quarrelled
with his brother, and descending into

the depths of the sea became en-
amoured of Toyo, and lived with her
in coral caves until she was about to
bring forth her child. Hiko then
built her a hut on the sea-shore, roof-
ing it with cormorants’ wings. Here
Fuki was born, and his mother Toyo
then became a crocodile and returned
to her home in the deep, Hiko hav-
ing displeased her. She left her
sister Tama-yori-hime behind, who
married Fulda wasedzu, and Jimmu-
Tenno was tlieir fourth child.

:{: There are some of these old blades
in the Exhibition at Tokio. One is
marked as valued at 700 gen.

API’.]

CELEBRATED SWORDS AND MAKERS.

339

Ohara Taru daiyii Yasutsuna of Hoki, a contemporary of Shin-
soku, forged a blade which in 947 was used by Eaiko (Minamoto
Yorimitzu) to kill Shi ten doji, a celebrated robber. He dreamed that
this sword, then still at the Ise shrine, alone had power to break
through the spell of invincibility that surrounded this celebrated
robber, who is even now known to children as a ghoul. This sword
was placed in the Ise Mai as an offering by Tamura Shogun. Another
sword of the same make was likewise placed at Kehi-miojin in Echigo
by the Shogun Toshihito.

Ohara Sane-mori, another maker of celebrated swords, lived at the
same time. One of his blades was called Nuke maru, from its having
flown out of its sheath and destroyed the Ja (enormous serpent) that
came to swallow up Taira Tadamori, who had laid the weapon
sheathed beside his pillow when lying down to rest. Another blade,
called Korgarashi maru, also in the possession of the Heiki family,
was reputed to cause trees to wither if it was laid down touching
them.

985 A.D. Yukihira was another celebrated sword-maker. One of
his swords was used by Watanabe, the follower of Yorimitzu (Eaiko),
to cut off the arm of the Onie* (ghoul) when sent by Eaiko to exter-
minate the wicked ghouls, dragons, ja, &c.

987 A.D. Mune chika, a sword-smith living in Sango Street, Kioto,
in the province of Yamashiro, made a blade called Cho marw, possessed
by Gonguro of Kamakura. Cho maru was so called from a cho (butter-
fly) being worked into the forte of the blade. Another was placed in
the temple of Eudo son at Echigo, and became the property of Wada
Saburozaiemon, who repaired the temple at his own cost. The blade
was thereafter called Eudo maru.

Another was called Kogitsune maru (little fox), from its having been
forged by the assistance of Inari (Uga no mitama), when Ichi jo no In
(887 A.D.) ordered one of the finest workmanship. The name of the
maker, Mune chika, was cut on the obverse, and the name Kokitsune
on the reverse side {tska').

Tomonari of Bizen was a noted sword-maker of the same period.

1004 A.D. there lived in Yamashiro Yoshi iye, to whom appeared
Sumiyoshi Daimio Jin (of the temple at Osaka) and ordered the best
blade that could be welded. When it was finished, the maker was on
his way to the temple, as ordered, but while crossing the water he
dropped the sword into its depths. A cormorant dived, and finding,
flew away with it. Shortly afterwards a new sword was found at the
Shrine of Sumi yoshi, which proved to be the lost blade, and it is now
called Wuno maru (wu, a cormorant).

z 2

Vide Stories (Kodomo Bannshi).

340

JAPAN.

[app.

1186 A.D. Gotoba no In was partial to sword-makers,* the most
celebrated of whom were sent for by him in rotation, as follows : —

The blades made by Gotoba no In are marked with a chrysanthemum
and a stroke beneath (kiku iclii monji).

1204 A.D. Yoshimitzu of Awadaguchi, in the province of Yama-
shiro, commonly known as Toshiro, His make of swords, having cut
tlirough a druggist’s metal mortar (called yagen), are known as
Yagen Toshiro.

Eai-taro Kuni-yukiis the name of a celebrated maker of this period.
In 1248 Kuni-mitzu flourished; in 1250, Kuni-yoshi. In 1279 Naga-
mitzu made a sword, afterwards worn by lyeyasu, called Adzuki naga
mitzu from its cutting a bean (adzuki) thrown into the air.

Other celebrated makers are : —

The last is the most celebrated of these renowned makers. He proudly
refused to cut his name on the blades, saying that their superiority
would be recognised without this.

1322 A.D., Mura-masa of Senjiu mura, in Ise, commonly spoken of as
Senjiu-in Mura-marsa. His swords woiild, it is said, cut a sheet of
paper floating on the stream if the sword were only held in the water
to meet the paper. Such was the reputed keenness of these weapons,
and so great the desire to test it possessed the owners, that when
a fitting opportunity occurred, the Tokugawa government forbade
their being worn.t

* Many of the imperial family and word-making.

Dairnios imitated this Mikado, and f The compiler of these notes
patronised amateur and professional possesses one, and has experience of

1st month, Bizen no Norimune.

2nd „ Bitchiu no Sadatsugu.

3rd „ Bizen Nobufusa.

4th „ Awadaguchi no Kuniyasu.

5th „ Bitchiu no Tsunetsugu.

6th „ Awadaguchi no Kunitomo.

7th „ Bizen no Muneyoshi.

8th „ Bitchiu no Tsuguieye.
9th „ Bizen no Sukemune.

10th „ Bizen no Yukikuni.

11th „ Bizen no Sukenari.

12th „ Bizen no Sukenobu.

t Eai Kuni toshi.

I Shin to go Kuni mitzu.

1303. Yuki mitsu of Sagami.

1319. Sadamune of Sagami.

1320. Go no Yoshi hiro of Yetchiu.

APP.]

CELEBRATED BWORDB AND MAKERS.

341

In 1326 Masa-mune, the most celebrated of sword-makers, forged
some of his best blades, now still in existence. The welding shows a
peculiar golden tinge, like forked lightning through a dark cloud.
He folded his metal from four sides, beat it out and refolded it in a
peculiar manner.

In 1338 there lived in Mino, at the village of Seki, Shidzu saburo
Kani-uji, a pupil of Masa mune.

In 1362, Okane-mitzu, a celebrated maker of sabres, having more
sweep in them than the blades of other makers.

1370 A.D., Kane-sada was a reputed sword-smith of Seki.

All swords made since 1570 are called Shinto (new swords), and the
old but inferior blades are included with these. The swords of previous
make are called Koto (old swords).

Horikawa Kuni-hiro, 1600 a.d., was the best of the new {Shinto)
makers.

In Setsu (Osaka) Tsuda Echizen no kami Suke-hiro was another
maker of about the same period (1624).

Subsequent makers are numerous, but as there are no special legends
connected with their blades or particular characteristics pertaining to
them, the list of their names is omitted here.

The edge of the Japanese sword is tempered separately from the
body, by being covered with clay when placed in the fire, and this
process brings out the marking peculiar to these swords called ya-ld ha
(burnt head).

These processes vary, and are called : —

Suguha, or straight edge : the style of Kuni mitzu.

IIoso suguha (fine thin), straight edge ; the Yamashiro style.

Oomidare, large, irregular, wavy : the Sagami and Bizen style.

Kornidare, small, irregular, wavy ; same style.

Choji, like cloves laid side by side : Bizen style.

Jiuka, overlaid petals, like flower petals : Bizen style.

Ilitatsura, marked with cloudy spots : Soshiu style.

0 Notare, large wavy line ; common to all.

Jio Natare, a small wavy line ; common to all.

Saka ashi, serrated ; principally Bizen.

Gunome or gonome, five curves and a straight line alternating : Mino
and Seki style.

Samhonsugi, three serrated marks and a straight line alternating.

Niye* are spots on the hard metal of the edge, peculiar to certain
makes; and Niyoie, cloudings and markings in the welding. The

the fear and superstitious reverence
evinced by natives of all classes for
the swords of this maker.

* Swords are said to retain the

stain of human blood if it is not
ground out speedily after the death
of the victim.

342

JAPAN.

[app.

markings on the point, called hoshi, are of several kinds, denoting the
peculiar makes.

All these details must be thoroughly studied by every Japanese
gentleman, and Hon Nami (experts) were pensioned by the Tokugawa
government to teach the true marks.”

The shapes of blades were classed as following : —

Ken, two-edged falchions.

Tatchi, swords with a greater curve.

Katana, the common large sword.

Wahizaslii, the ordinary medium blade.

Tanto, the short sword, of late most worn with the Katana.

Yoroidoshi, a short thick blade.

Yari, a lance.

Naginaki, a large-headed lance.

Unokuhi tskuri (cormorant’s-head-shaped), a blade flattened out at
the point.

Kamuri otoshi, a small pointed stiletto.

Shobutskuri, like a flag-leaf, flat-backed.

liiratskuri, broad-shaped.

Iwomune, sloping-backed.

Hako mune, square-backed.

Ogisaki, round-pointed.

Kiromono are grooves or hollows in the blades filled with crimson
lacquer or carvings of Fudo, Marishiten (dragons), and sometimes
Bonji (Sanskrit) letters and Chinese characters, such as read kimi ban
zei will cut for ten thousand years ”) ; ten ka tai hei (“ peace beneath
heaven ”) ; set shin ho koku honest heart and patriotic”). Some swords
have been engraved with poetry of thirty-one syllables.

The shapes of the haft {komi, or nakago) and the marks thereon are
a serious study to all true swordsmen.

Yasuri me (file-marks), to keep the hilt from slipping.

Jlirayasuri, Yokoyasuri taka no ha, Ya liadzu, are the various styles
each having some peculiarity of the maker.

ABEGAWA.

BANQUETS.

Abegawa river, ii. 284, 286
Aidzii clan, the, rebellion of, i. 282
Aino origin of the Japanese, i. 16
Ainos, the, revolt of, i. 138
Alcock, Sir fiutherford, on Japanese
Art, ii. 98

Almanac first used, i. 129
Ama-no-uki-hashi, or floating bridge
of heaven, i. 30

Amaterasu, queen of the sun, i. xxix.

29 ; legend of, 31 ; ii. 245
American demands for commercial
intercourse, i. 245, 247, 252, 254
Amita Buddha, i. 83, 85
Anagawa, battle of, i. 186
Anaki, tutor to Prince Waki-Irako,

i. 124

Anatomy not formerly known in
Japan, ii. 95 ; account of its dis-
covery, 95, 96, n.

Ancestors, worship of, enjoined, i. 43
Anderson, Professor, his art collection,

ii. 82 ; upon Japanese design, com-
position, drawing, perspective, chia-
roscuro and colour, 85, 87, 93, 94

Animals, Japanese, ii. 17
Anko, Emperor, assassinated, i. 106
Antiquities of Japan, ii. 175
Arai, gate of, ii. 282
Architecture, ancient style of, i. 136
Arishiyama, village, ii. 204
Arisugawa, Prince, commander-in-
chief of the imperial forces, i. 340
Army, a new, created, i. 320
Art, Japanese, development of, i.
129 ; processes of, ii. 30 ; temple
art treasures, ii. 80 ; studies in
Kioto, 81 ; seances, 82 ; 'of foreign
derivation, 83 ; patronised by
government, 83 ; early artists, 84 ;

the Tosa school, 84; Kano and
his school, 85; Okio and the
Shiyo Riu, 87 ; Hokusai, 87, 89 ;
Professor Anderson’s summary, 93 ;
design, 94 ; beauty of the human
form not appreciated, 95 ; com-
position, drawing, 97 ; perspective,
98; chiaroscuro and colour, 99;
frequent recurrenee of some objects,
100 ; legend of the Cuckoo and the
Moon, 101—103 ; technical mastery,
104

Art and industry developed, i. 236
Aryan family of languages, the, i.

XXV. ; ii. 52, 77
Aryans, the, ii. 53, 76, 77
Asakusa, temple of, ii. 24; various
attractions, 25 ; the Nio, or giant
gate-keepers, 26 ; the remedial
idol, 27 ; praying-wheel, 28
Ashikaga Shoguns, rise of, i. 116;

images beheaded and pilloried, 264
Ashikaga-Taka-Uji, his discontent,
i. 168 ; abrupt departure, 169 ;
accuses Nitta, 169

Ashikagas, the, supreme power of,
i. 178; decline of, 183; complete
overthrow, 186

Assassination of the prime minister
Ii, i. 157 ; of two Englishmen at
Yedo, 260 ; of Mr. Richardson, 265 ;
of the Minister Okubo, 284
Assemblies, elective, i. 365
Atsuta, Shinto temple of, depository
of the sacred sword, ii. 266
Awada, sent as ambassador to China,
i. 289

Bakufu, the, i. 245
Banquets, Buddhist, ii. 202, 213

344

BATH.

INDEX.

COMPARATIVE.

Bath, tlie, a popular institution, i. 60
Bell, the wishing, legend of, ii. 291
Bibles, the Japanese (see Kojihi and
Nihonhi)

Binzuru Senja, the remedial idol at
Asakusa, ii. 27
Birds, Japanese, ii. 17
Biwa, lake of, ii. 232 I

Bo-tree, the, i. 67

Boat, ancient, in the museum at
Osaka, ii. 142

Bonin islands, the, i. 3 ; taken under
Japanese protection, 318
Bozus, the, their self-indulgent lives,
i. 193 ; scattered after the sur-
render of Honganji, 195
Brahmanism, i. 65

Brinkley, Captain, on the Japanese
language, ii. 51, 66, 72, 75
Bronze-work, ii. 36 ; process of cast-
ing, 37, 38 ; coloured pictures in
metals, 39 ; repousse work, 40
Buddha, his descent, i. 66 ; life and
teaching, 67 ; statue of, brought
into Japan, 107 ; relic of, at the
temple of Horiuji, ii. 161
Buddhism, i. xxx. ; its Indian origin,
64; its simplicity, 69; use of idols,
69; analogy with Christianity, 70;
theory of the cosmogony, 71 ; mo-
rality and purity, 72 ; transmigra-
tion of souls, 74 ; introduced into
China, 74; into Korea and Japan,
75 ; powerful in the state, 81 ; bold-
ness of the priests, 81 ; adopted by
all classes, 82 ; modern scepticism
respecting, 92-99 ; the “ Ranters ”
of, 88 ; rise of, 107; hostility to,' 194
Buddhistpriests persecuted by Nobun-
aga, i. 193 ; their temple of Hieyei
destroyed, 194; fortified temple of
Honganji, 194 ; its siege and sur-
render, 195 ; priestly attire, 203

sects, i. 83 ; Protestant, of

Japan, 86 ; number of, 90, 91 ; in-
fluence of European civilisation, 92
Burial-places of the Mikados, ii. 158

Cabinet, the present, i. 364
Cannon imported into Japan, i. 183
Castle of Yedo, 220
Ceiling of arrows at the old castle of
Kanazawa, ii. 145
Census taken in 1744, i. 236
Charm of numbers, the, i. 33 ; ii. 63
Chaya, the, or tea-house, ii. 14

Cherry-tree, Japanese, ii. 205
Chickens, sacred, in the Shinto
temples, ii. 11

Children, Japanese, ii. 13, 157
China, Buddhism in, i. 74 ; dream of
the emperor of, 75 ; presents from
a mission to, 78 ; further inter-
I course with, 80, 289 ; attempts to
invade Japan, 161
Chionin, Buddhist temple of, ii. 182
Cholera introduced into Japan, i.
xxxvii., 254

Choshiu clan, the, long - standing
grievances of, i. 242 ; fires upon
foreign ships, 268 ; dismissed from
Kioto, 269 ; attacks a Satsuma
ship, 270; conflict with the Sat-
suma and Aidzu clans, 271
Choshiu and Satsuma, the princes of,
their long-standing grievance, i.
242 ; projects for restoring power
to the emperor, 243, 244 ; honours
granted to, 279

Christian religion, the, protected by,
Nobunaga, i. 191

Christianity in Japan, appearance
and spread of, i. 190 ; flourishing
condition of, 199 ; lyeyasu’s extir-
pation of, 213 ; reaction against,
192, 296 ; interdict, 298 ; persecu-
tions, 300, 301

Christians, the, persecuted, i. 213 ;
revolt and massacre at Shimabara,
227, 228

Chronological period changed toMeiji,
i. 285

I Chronology, comparison of Christian
and Japanese, i. 102
Church, first Christian, in Japan,
i. 191

Clan system, the, abolisljed, i. 320
Clarke, Mr. Hyde, theory of, i. xxv.
17 ; ii. 53, 75-79, 331

on his Turano -African

theory, ii. 75-79
Climate, i. 5-9

Coat of Arms, the imperial, i. 118
“ Cockpit,” the, of Japan, ii. 179
Coinage, new copper, introduced, i.
229; altered, 233; restored by
lyetsugu, 234

Coins, modern, of Japan, ii. 153
Commerce, foreign, encouraged, i. 215
Comparative table of words in Ja-
panese, West African, and other
languages, ii. 331-337

CONCUBINAGE.

INDEX.

GEISHAS.

345

Concubinage, system of, i. 106
Conscription law, the, i. 320, 321
Consular jurisdiction, i. xlv.-xlviii.
Convict establishment, the central,
i. 321

Costumes, ii. 7, 12, 258, 259
Creation, Japanese account of, i. 25
Crown, the descent of the, i. 100

Dai-butsu, the colossal god of Nara,
head shaken off by an earthquake,
i. 10 ; ii. 225 ; description of, ii.
165 ; of Kioto, ii. 225 ; of Kama-
kura, i. 154 ; ii. 178
Dai-jo-Dai-jin, or office of prime
minister, i. 128

Dai-jo Ku-wan, the, or cabinet, 136
Daimios, or provincial princes, i. 214,
217, 218

Dance of the virgin priestesses, ii. 174
Dances, festival, ii. 213; national,
222 ; the most ancient ceremonial,
251

Deer, sacred, of Miyajima, ii. 120
Defacing customs abolished, i. 18
Diana, the Russian frigate, wrecked
by an earthquake off Sbimoda, i.
12, 251; ii. 116
Dogs, Korean, i. 177
Dokio, the priest, aspires to the
throne, i. 110

Doncho, the priest, sent from Koma
in Korea, i. 130
Drawings, amateur, ii. 273
Dutch language, its spread, i. 237
Dutch, the, their intercourse with
Japan, i. 294 ; forged letter found
on board a Portuguese vessel, 295
Dynasties, Northern and Southern, i.
174 ; wars, 176

Dynasty, the imperial, i. 35, 37, 39,
100

Dynasty, the Tokugawa founded, i.
201

Earthquakes, summary of, i. 10-12 ;
succession of, 250

Edicts against Christianity, and rules
for testing the orthodoxy of the
Japanese, i. 300, 301
Education, progress of, i. 129 ; interest
taken in, by the emperor and em-
press, 330

Educational system, the, i. 328
Emperor, the present (see Mutsu-
Hito)

Emperors and empresses, list of, ii.
326, 327

, Northern and Southern, i.

116

Engi-Kaku, the, composed by Fuji-
wara Tokihira, i. 134
England, beginning of intercourse
with Japan, i. 294

English, the, in Japan, i. xxxii. 249,
252, 254, 259, 260, 265, 288
Enomoto Kamurijo, Admiral, studies
naval warfare in Holland, i. 285 ;
adheres to the Tokugawa cause,
285 ; compelled to surrender, 286 ;
appointed to a high office, 286
Enouye Kawori, minister of public
works, i. 361 ; attempt on his life,
362

Enriaku-ji, temples (see Hiyei-san)
Envoys, Japanese, despatched to
Europe, i. 260

Epic, a prose, on the overthrow of
the Taira, i. 151
Excursion vans, ii. 18
Exhibition, historic, at Kioto, ii. 219
Extent and area of Japan, i. 3

Fair, Japanese, at Osaka, ii. 143
Fetishism, i. xxvii.

Fire-arms introduced, i. 183
Fish-drying for manure, ii. 298
Formosa, the recent war of Japan
against, i. 310, 311 ; indemnity
paid by Russia, 311
Fruichi, ii. 253

Fu division, the, of Tokio, i. 320 ; ii.
45

Fuchiu, ii. 286 (see Shidzuoka)
Fugi-kawa river, ii. 298
Fujiwara regents, i. 110 ; the house
of, founded, 128 ; rise and eminence,
132 ; oppressive power, 138
Fuji-yama, the sacred mountain, ii.
1, 281, 284, 293 ; its height, 294 ;
a dormant, not extinct, volcano,
295 ; legend of its origin, 295 ;
cultivation, 295 ; pilgrimages to its
summit, 296

Fusieda, luncheon at, ii. 285

Gassho, the priest, drowns himself, i.
335

Gazette, government, published, i.
285

Geishas, or dancing girls, ii. 149,
199 ; schools for, 224

346

GENJI-MONOGATARI.

INDEX.

I150UKI.

Genji-monogatari, written by Mura-
saki-Shikibn, ii. 33, n. 68, 235
Geku shrine, the, ii. 244 ; the goddess
there worshipped, 246, n.

Geng king, the, sends a force to
invade Kushima and Iki, i. 291 ;
his armada, 292 ; final destruction,
293

Genro-In, (house of seniors) or senate,

i. 364

Geology, i, 9

Ginkakuji (silver-storied temple), ii.
187

Go-Daigo, the Southern Emperor, i.
116 ; escapes from Oki, 161 ; re-
stored to ins capital, 166 ; escapes
to Yoshino, 174 ; his death, 176
God-ancestors, extreme age of, i. 15.
Gods of Japan, the number of the, i.
31 ; the haini or, i. xxvii. 40, 45,

ii. 250

Gods, the way of the, i. 40, 42
Gohei^ the, a Japanese religious em-
blem, i. 32, 34, 59 ; ii. 169
Gokenin, the, i. 219
Go-Komio, Emperor, i. 229
Gold cups, the Mikado’s gifts of, ii.
298

Go-Sakura-Machi, Empress, i. 236
Go-Shirakawa, the ‘cloistered em-
peror,’ i. 142

Go-Tob;i, ex-emperor, i. 157 ; attempts
to assert the imperial rights, 158 ;
contest with his minister Yoshitoki,
158

Graveyards, village, ii. 160
Griffis’s Mikados’ Empire, i. vi. 20,
24, 40, 72, 87, 91, 122, 134, 142,
150, 176, 187, 193, 244

Hachiman of Tamoki, Shinto temple
of, ii. 171

Hachiman, i. 139 (see Ojin-Tenno)
Hachiman-Toro, i. 138-139
Hair, labourers’ mode of dressing, ii. 8
Hakone lake, ii. 305

mountains, ii. 300, 302

Hamamatsu, ii. 283
Han division, the, i, 320
Ilara-kiri, or suicide, i. 61, n.
Harbours and trading ports, i. 4
Harima sea, the, ii. 119
Harris, Mr., received in Yedo by the
Shogun, i. 253

Harvest prayer or ritual, i. 47, 49
Hatamoto, the, i. 218

Heiji, the, battle of, i. 142
Hewsken, Mr., American secretary of
legation, murdered, i. 258
Hibachi, the, ii. 9

Hidetada appointed nominally to the
Shogunate, i. 209 ; succeeds his
father, 224 ; sends a subject to
Europe to study its religions, 225 ;
decides against Eoman Catholicism,
225 ; authorises the founding of
the Wooyeno temples, 225
Hideyori, son of the 1 aiko, i. 206 ;
revolts, 207 ; besieged at Osaka,
210; revolts again, 210; commits
suicide, 211

Hideyoshi, i. 188, originally a hetto,
189 ; appoints a child-successor
to Nobunga, 196 ; declares war
against Korea, 198; threatens China,
199 ; his ambition, 200 ; becomes
the Taiko, 201; his character, 201 ;
anecdotes of, 202 ; prepares to in-
vade Korea, 302 ; proceeds to Kiu-
shiu, 303 ; death and truce with
Korea, 308 (see also ii. 220)
Higashi-Otani, Buddhist temple of,
ii. 181

Hiogo, the foreign squadrons at, i.

273, 274; ii. 117 (see Kobe)
Hirata, his instructions and pra}"ers,
i. 43-46

Hirata Atsutane composes his “ Kos-
hi-seibun ” at Shidzuoka, ii. 288
Historic period, commencement of,
in Japan, i. 101
Hiuga, the rebels in, i. 343
Hiyei-san, the great temple of, i.
80, 139, 190; destroyed, 194; Mr.
Dixon’s account of it, 227-229
Hojo family, the, i. 115 ; their fall,
116 ; good and patriotic services,
160 ; overthrow, 165

the “ later,” of Odowara, i.

196 ; its final overthrow, 198
Hokusai, the Japanese Hogarth, ii.
87, 88

Honganji, fortified temple and mon-
astery of, i. 194 ; siege and sm’ren-
der, 195

Horiuji, ancient Buddhist temples of,
i. 79; relic of Buddha, ii. 161;
carvings of Prince Shotoku, 162
Hoyei-san, its peak produced by an
earthquake, i. 11

Ibouki, snowy ranges of, ii. 266

IDOLS.

INDEX.

KAMI-DANA

347

Idols, Buddhistic use of, i. 68
Idzu hills, view of, ii. 302
li, created Tairo or chief minister
of the ShogUD, i. 253 ; concludes
treaties with foreign governments,
254 ; called the Swaggering Prime
Minister,” 255 ; assassinated, 257 ;
his head exposed, 258
litoyo-no-Awo, Princess regent, i.
106

Incense, ceremonial burning of, ii.
212

Infinite vision, a Buddhist debate on,
• i. 92-99'

Inland town or village, ii. 14
Inshiraga, the painter, i. 129
Insignia, the imperial, i. 29 ; carried
off by Fujiwara-Arimitzu, i. 180
Ise, ancient shrines of, i. 59 ii. 244
Ishibe village, ii. 236
Ishiyama-dera, the famous Buddhist
temples, ii. 233 ; legendary origin,
234

Islands of Japan, i. 1-4, 9
Ito, Mr., home minister, i. 357
Itsuku, island, ii. 120; temples of
Miyajima, 120

lyemitsu succeeds Hidetada, i. 226 ;
his feudal policy, 226 ; forbids all
foreign intercourse, 227 ; and the
construction of sea-going vessels,
227 ; revolt and massacre of the
Christians, 228 ; his new copper
coinage, 229

lyemocW, Shogun, his accession, i.

255 ; his death, 273
lyesada. Shogun, his accession, i. 247 ;
his death, 254

lyetsugu. Shogun, suppresses smug-
gling, i. 234

lyetsuna. Shogun, i. 230 ; encourages
literature, 230 ; maritime com-
merce, 231

lyeyasu, founder of the Tokugawa
dynasty, i. 186, 204; birthplace,
205, ii. 278 ; establishes himself in
the Kuanto, i. 205 ; founds Yedo,
206 ; sole regent, 206 ; conspired
against, 206 ; battle of Sekigahara,
207-209 ; created Shogun, 209 ;
besieges Osaka, 210; Hideyori’s
family destroyed, 211; issues an
edict for the expulsion of the
Jesuits, 211 ; persecutes the Chris-
tian converts, 213 ; promotes educa-
tion and learning, 214 ; takes con-

trol of the Mines, 215 ; encourages
foreign commerce, 215 ; his death
and “legacy,” 216 ; feudal system of
administration, 217 ; proclamation
interdicting Christianity through-
out the empire, 298 ; at Shidzuoka,
ii. 287

Izanagi and Izanami, i. xxix., 28 ;
their method of creation, 31

Japanese embassy to Europe, i. 271
Japanese political and international
prospects, i. xxxi.

Jesuit missionaries, the, i. 200 ; their
numbers, 211 ; attack the Buddhist
priests, 296

Jewels, magatama, or divine, ii. 143
Jimmu-Tenno, first historic emperor,
descent of, i. 35, 101, 119 ; his con-
quests, 120 ; palace, 121 ; imperial
salute in honour of his accession,
ii. 132

JingU'Kogo, Empress, i. 103 ; her in-
vasion of Korea, 104; diplomatic
relations between Japan and China,
123 ; brings books and writings
from Korea, 125
Jinriki-slia men, ii. 7, 236, 237
Jiogakko, or female normal school, ii.
195

Jiokoba, or female industrial estab-
lishment, ii. 195

Jito, Empress, her reforms, i. 128
Josetsu, the artist, ii. 85

Kadzumo, the capital in Kuwanno’s
reign, afterwards Kioto, i. 131
Kaempfer, Dr., on the origin of the
Japanese, i. 15 ; his visit to Japan,
232 ; describes lake Hakone, ii.
305

Kago, or mountain chair, ii. 284 ; its
discomforts to a European, 301
Kagoshima, bombardment of, i. 266 ;
removal of stores and arms resisted,
i. 339, 340 ; occupied by Saigo,
346

Kakemono, hanging pictures mounted
on rollers, ii. 81

Kamakura, founded by Yoritomo, i.
148 ; its aggrandisement, 152 ; its
fall and present desolation, 154;
Nitta’s attack upon, 163-165
Kami, the, or gods of the country, i.
xxvii. 40

Kami-dana, or Penates, i. 45 ; ii. 250

348

KAMI-NO-MICHI.

INDEX.

KOREA.

Kaaii-iio-michi, or way of the gods, .

i. 40, 42 I

Kamogawa river, ii. 186
Kanagawa, ii. 309

Kanaya village, ii. 285
Kanazawa, old castle of, ceiling of
arrows, gilded tiles, ii. 145 i

Kano Masanobu, bis school of Japan- ■
ese art, ii. 86 I

Karuno, the ship, i. 124 ;

Kashiwabara, selected by Jimmii- ;

Tenno for his capital, i. 120 j

Kasiiga, Shinto temple of, ii. 172; its i
three thousand lanterns, 173 1

Kato Kiyomasa, the persecutor of ;
the Christians, i. 88 ; the designer j
of Kagoya castle, ii. 275
Katsnmoto’s rebellion, i. 180 i

Kawamnra, Admiral, sent to Kago-
shima, i. 340 ; made minister of |
marine, 361 ; his private residence, |

ii. 6 ; dinner at, 20 i

Keiki, the last Shogun, i. 274; re-
signs his office, 275 ; attempts to
regain his power, 276; marches to
Osaka, and advances to Kioto, 277 ;
defeated, 279 ; submits to the em-
peror, 280 j

Keiko, Emperor, his memorable reign, I
i. 121

Ken division, the, i. 320
Kingire, the, or “ shreds of brocade,”
i. 281

Kiuse Shiriaku, the, i. 241
Kioto (Miako) founded by Kuwannu,
i. 131 ; burnt, 182 ; scene of wars,
183, see Kadzumo

Kioto, the western capital, i. 131,
140,158, 181, 183, 190; ii. 179;
lodgings in a Buddhist temple, 180 ;
mineral baths at Maruyama, 180;
Buddhist temple of Higashi-Otani,
181 ; of Shiouin, 182 ; the Mikado’s
])alace, 182-184 ; Shinto temple of
Shimagomo, 185 ; summer seat of
the Mikado, 186 ; Mr. Shnmako’s
private school, 187 ; the silver-
storied temple, 187 ; Shinto temples
of Yoshida, 189 ; the eight million ,
gods, 190; Buddhist temple of |
Sbinniyodo, 191 ; of Kurodane, j
191 ; of Nanjenji, 192 ; industrial |
establishments, 193 ; female normal
school, 195-198, silk factories, 198; ;
the Karakuko school, 198, 199 ;
fjeisJms, or dancing girls, 199, 200, |

224 ; banquet with Buddhist dig-
nitaries, 200-204 ; illuminations,
jugglers, 203 ; Arashiyama, 205 ;
fishing and boating, 206 ; Shinto
temple of Matsuuo, 208 ; Japanese
music, 209 ; the great Toji temples,
210 ; Shinshu temples of Nishi-
Honganji, 212 ; a Buddhist banquet,
213; historical exhibition, 217; the
Mikado’s carriage, 218 ; literary
treasures, 218; government college,
218; porcelain works, 220; Hide-
yoshi at Kiyomidzu, 220 ; Shinshu
temple of Kishi-Otani, 222; na^*
tional dances, 222 ; silk and other
factories, 223 ; street strolls, 226 ;
Mount Hiyei, 227 ; illness, 229
Kirishmia, Mount, i. 30
Kirishitan (Christian) interdict and
proclamation against, i. 297, 298
Kiushiu placed under martial law,
i. 342

Kiyomidzu, temple of, ii. 220
Kiyomori, i. 139 ; his deeds in the
sea of lyo, 140, n. ; rescues the
emperor, 143 ; made prime minister,
144; attempts to assassinate, 145
Kobo Daishi, founder of the Shingon
sect. i. 80 ; an artist, ii. 84 ; author
of a Japanese alphabet, 169
Kobe and Hiogo, ii. 117 ; waterfalls,
117 ; tea-houses, shrines, temples,
118 ; club, 118

Kojiki, the, origin and authorship, i.
20, 21, 26

Kokaku, Emperor, i. 236 ; famine in
his reign, 237

Koken, Emijress, i. 109, 110
’ Kokioku, Empress, afterwards Saimei,

, i. 108

I Kokubu, village, ii. 160
j Komagadake mountain, ii. 265
, Komei, Emperor, his death, i. 274
Komio-Tenno, the Northern Em-
peror, i. 116, 174

Korea, its relations with Japan, i.
75, 121; under Jingu-Kogo, 124;
Hideyosln declares war against,
198 ; invasion of, 303 ; retreat of
the king, 304 ; a jjarley, 305 ; Pin-
shang abandoned, 306 ; China sends
help, 306 ; truce concluded, 308 ;
lasting effects of the war, 308 ; de-
clines to acknowledge the Mikado,
311 ; a treaty of amity concluded,
312, 313

KOREAN,

INDEX

MIKADOS.

349

Korean pirates attack the island of
Tsushima, i. 289, 290
Koriyama, town of, ii. 163
Korujo, ancient Buddhist temple of,
ii. 140 ; reminiscences of Prince
Shotoku, 140

Rose no Kanaoke, the first Japanese
artist, ii. 84

Kotoku, Emperor, i. 108
Kozu, Shinto temple of, at Osaka, ii.
140

Kunamoto, castle of, i. 341
Kurile islands, i. 3 ; made over to |
Japan, 317

Kuroda, General, his victory over the
rebels, i. 283 ; minister of agri-
culture and the colonies, 363 ; his
administration in Yezo, 363
Kurodani, Buddhist temple of, ii.
191

Kuroshiwo, or Black Current, i. 6
Kusunoki-Masashige, or ‘ Kanko,’ i.
162 ; undertakes to restore Go-
Daigo, 162 ; his wise advice re-
jected, 170 ; address to his son, 170 ;
defeat, 171; suicide, 172; fame as
a patriot, 172 ; gallantry and death
of his son, 173-174
Kuwannu, Emperor, i. 80 ; transfers
the capital to Kadzumo, 131
Kwannon, the goddess of a thousand
hands, i. 89; her temples at Ni-
getsu, ii. 170 ; miraculous appear-
ance to Prince Bizen, 280 ; colossal
bronze statue of, at Siomizaka, 281

Lacquer- work, ii. 31 ; a speciality of
Japan, 31 ; in remote times, 32 ;
decline and revival, 33 : process of
laying on, 34 ; gold and silver
applied, 35, 36

Lacquer, inlaid, and bamboo-work, at
Shidzuoka, ii. 286
Lakes of Japan, i. 5
Language, the Japanese, its origin, i.
xxiv. ; unwritten, ii. 48 ; oral
teaching, 49, 50 ; colossal system
of mnemonics, 51 ; ancient, 51 ;
the Loo-choo dialect, 52 ; a Tura-
nian tongue, 52 ; Mr. Hyde
Clarke’s theory, 53 ; characters
first introduced from Korea, 54;
Chinese literature, 54 ; Shinji letters
of the “ god-age,” 55 ; spoken and
written, 56 ; Capt. Brinkley on^ 72,
75 ; Comparative Table, 331

Laws, revision of the, i. 323 ; codes
of 1871 and 1873, 323 ; repeal of
barbarous, 324

Legacy of lyeyasu, the, i. 216
Legends, Japanese, i. 35 ; ii. 288-
292

Letter of a Japanese gentleman to a
Chinaman, ii. 69-71 ; interchange
of prose and poetry, 71, 72
Lighthouse building commenced, i.
285

Literature of Japan, great develop-
ment of, i. 233 ; ii. 57 •; influence
of women on, 68

Loo-choo Islands the, i. 3 ; the king-
dom of, becomes subject to the
princes of Satsuma, 309 ; the lan-
guage of, ii. 51, 75
Lotus, the emblem of the Buddhist
faith, ii. 16

Maqatama^ divine jewels, i. 30, 32 ;
ii. 143

Maget, Dr., on the advantages of the
Japan islands, i. 13
Mana, or the true name, i. 21
Manufactories, silk and Qhirimen, ii.
223

Masago imprisons her father, i. 157
Masashige, see Kusunoki
Masatsura defeats Taka-Uji’s general,
i. 173; interview with the em-
peror, 173 ; gallant death, 174
Matsuno Jinsha, Shinto temple of, ii.
208

Matsuzaka, birthplace of Motoori, ii.
241 ; visit to a girls’ school, 242 ;
the Geku shrine, 244 ; the Naiko,
or inner shrine, 248 ; ceremonial
temple dance, 252, 253
Mayezaka, village, its fishermen, ii.
283

Mayurama, mineral baths at, ii. 180
Mediterranean, the Japanese, i. 7
Michisane banished to Kiushiu, i.
134 ; deified as the god Ten] in,
134

MiharaorMirawa, bay and castle of, ii.
119

Mikado, the, palace at Kioto ; ii. 182 ;
throne-room, studio, 183 ; bed-
chamber, 184 ; apartments of the
empress, 184; imperial gardens,
184

, his summer-seat, ii. 186

Mikados, the, divine descent,!. 35, 37 ;

350

MILLER.

INDEX.

NIKKO SHRINES.

prayer of, 43 ; simplicity of their
lives, palaces, &c., 130; burial-
places, ii. 158

Miller, Mr. Max, i. xxiv. 73
Mimana pays tribute to Japan, i.
121

Mimosusogawa river, ii. 249
Minainoto family, the, i. 135 ; use the
white flag, 137 ; growing intluence,
139 ; rising military power, 140 ;
its greatest depression, 145 ; ascen-
dency, 150 ; struggles with the
Hojo family, 156

Minatogawa, great battle of, i. 171
Mines, the, placed under the direction
of Okubo-Nogayasu, i. 215
Miosho-Tenno, Empress, i. 226
Mirror, the sacred, symlDol of Shinto
faith, i. 29, 32, 34, 41 ; ii. 10
Mishima, great Shinto temple, ii.
299 ; its treasures, 299 ; the hago
of its god, 300
Missaka, ii. 284

Missionaries, Jesuit, burnt at Naga-
saki, i. 199

Miya, the port of Nagoya, ii. 266 ; its
gateways, 278
Miyagawa river, ii. 244
Miyajima, ancient temples of, ii.
120; sacred deer and monkeys,
121 ; Shinto temple at, 122 ; origin
of, 123, 124 ; Buddhist temple of
a thousand mats, 124; story of
Yoshitaka and Motonari, 124-126
Mochi-Uje, assassinated, i. 179
Model-picture, at the end of a
banquet, ii. 151, 203, 215
Monetary system, new, i. 325
Money order system, i. 327
Mongol Tartars, the, invasion by, i.
161

Monkeys, sacred, of Miyajima, ii. 120
Moon and the Cuckoo, the, legend of,
ii. 101-103

Morinaga, Prince, i. 166 ; murdered
by Taka-Uji, 176

“ Morning Land,” its meaning, i. 102
Motoori-Noringa, birthplace, ii. 241 ;
his writings, 241

Mounsey’sjMr., “ Satsuma Pebellion,”
i. 332

Mountains of Japan, height of, i. 4
Muller, Mr. Max, i. xxiv. 73
Music, Japanese, ii. 209
Musical instruments, ii. 149
Mutsn-Hito, present emperor of

Japan, i. 117 ; his oath to promote
representative government, 280 ;
distracted state of the empire on
his accession, 349 ; suppresses
successive rebellions, 350 ; sim-
plicity of his court, 351 ; troubles
of his reign, 352; constitutional
objects, 354; new form of govern-
ment, 355; list of cabinet ministers,
355

Mythology of Japan, less repulsive
than that of the Greeks, i. xxviii. ;
little understood, 19 ; the Sacred
Books which embody it, 20

Nagasaki, ii. 131 : coal-mines, 132 ;
government establishments, 133 ;
English church missionary society,
135

Nagoya, city of, ii. 272 ; banquet and
exhibition of porcelain, 272 ; castle,
273; gold fish, 274; attempts to
steal one, 274 ; history of the
castle, 275

Nai^Dai-jin, the ofiSce of, created, i.
128

Naiku, the inner shrine of the sun-
goddess, ii. 248

Nanjenji, Buddhist temple of, ii. 192
Nanko, i. 162 (see Kusunoki)

Nara, first view of, ii. 163 ; the great
temple of Dai-butsu, 165 ; colossal
god of bronze and gold, 165 ; the
supporters, 166 ; historic relics,
167 ; footprint of Buddha, 168 ;
the great bell, 170 ; other temples
of, 170-75

Nara empresses, the, revival of
Shinto under, i. 79 ; the imperial
capital during several reigns, 109,
131

Narumi town, ii. 278

Naval architecture first commenced,

i. 124

revolt suppressed, i. 286

Navy, the Japanese, destroyed by
by the Koreans, i. 307

, imperial, established, i. 321

Nichiren and his sect, i. 87 ; the
“ Ranters ” of Buddhism, 88
Night-crying stone, the, legend of,

ii. 289

Nightingale, the Japanese, ii. 302
Nihonki, the, i. 23 ; indication of
Chinese influence, 25
Nikko shrines, i. 281

NINIGI-NO-MIKOTO.

INDEX.

PHEASANT.

351

is’ inigi-no-Mikoto, i. 29 ; the ‘ Sovran
grandchild,’ 30 ; "his residence at
Hiuga, 120

Nintokii at Osaka, i. 105, ii. 139 ;
and his brother, their generous
contention, i. 104

Nio, or Buddhist gatekeepers, ii. 26.
Nirvana, doctrine of, i. 68
Nishi-Honganji, great Shinshu tem-
ple of, ii. 212

Nishi-Otani, Shinshu temple of, ii.
222

Nitta Yosisada, i. 163 ; deserts from
the Hojo to the imperial cause,
163 ; his military success, 164 ;
appeal to the god of the sea, 165 ;
captures Kamakura, 165 ; gallant
death, 175

Nobunaga, rise of, i. 184; attacks
Yosimoto’s army and kills him,
185 ; commissioned by the emperor
to pacificate the country, 185; over-
throws the false Shogun, 185 ; the
battle of Anagawa, 186; his ability,
188 ; public acts, 189 ; made Udai-
jin, 189; protects Christianity, 190;
destroys the Buddhist priests, and
burns the temples of Hiyei-san to
the ground, 194 ; kills himself,
196

Norito, the, or Japanese ritual, i. 46-
52

Normal school, female, ii. 195-198
Nursery garden at Osaka, ii. 139

Observatory at Kanda, i. 235
0-harai, the, ii. 250, 251, n.

Oigawa river, i. 5, n., 205, 207 ; ii.
284, 285

Ojin-Tenno, the god of war, i. 104 ;
promotes ship-building, 124 ; writ-
ten characters first introduced,
125 ; his burial-place, ii. 158 ; still
worshipped by all classes, 159
Okazaki, birthplace of lyeyasu, ii.

278 ; granite quarries, 278
Oken-o, prince, declines the crown in
favour of his brother, Kenso, i. 106
Okio, the artist, ii. 87, 89
Oki Takuto, minister of justice, i. 362
Okubo memorandum, the, i. 284
Okuma, Mr., the finance minister, his
reforms, i. 358; the “Japanese
Gladstone,” 359

Oosimalighth ouse, precautions against
earthquakes, ii. 115

Organtin, Padre, his interview with
Nobunaga, i. 191
Origin of the Japanese, i. 14-17.
Osaka, the ancient Naniwa, an Im-
perial city, i. 105 ; rebellion at,
209 ; successive sieges of, 210, 211,
278 ; ii. 136 ; historic associations,
136 ; imperial reception-house, 138 ;
nursery garden, 139 ; Kozu Shinto
temple, 140 ; Ikudama temple,
140 ; ancient Buddhist temple of
Korujo, 140; temple of Sumi-
yoshi, the sea-gods, 141 ; musical
service, 142 ; museum, 142 ; pre-
historic boat, 142 ; magatama
jewels, 143 ; fair, 143 ; castle, 143 ;
modern arsenal, 144; immense
monoliths, 144 ; ceiling of arrows,
145 ; castle keep, barracks, 145 ;
private Japanese dinner, 146 ; pub-
lic dinner, 147 ; music and dances,
149 ; a speech by the president of
the chamber of commerce, 150;
dramatic performances, 151 ; shop-
ping expedition, 152 ; presents,

153 ; imperial mint, 153 ; coins,

154

Ota family, the, i. 184, see Nobunaga

Dokuan, builder of Yedo, i. 220

Otsu, ii. 232

0-usu, Prince, i. 121 ; disguises him-
self as a dancing-girl and slays the
arch - rebel, 122 ; his “ sacred
sword,” 123 ; his wife’s self-
sacrifice, 123 ; introduces lacquer-
work, 123
Owari bay, ii. 239
Oya-shiwo, the, or cold current, i. 7
Oye family, the, privileges of, i. 135
Oye, Prince, gives an impulse to
Buddhism, i. 79

Paper currency, national, i. 325

manufacture, at Ogi, ii. 41 ;

jToduced from different materials,
42-44 ; various uses of paper, 44,
45

Pappenberg, the rock of, Christians
hurled from, into the sea, i. 228
Penal servitude, i. 324
Perry, Commodore, at Uraga, urges a
commercial treaty, i. 246 ; appears
a second time, 247 ; obtains certain
privileges from the Shogun, 248
Pheasant, the sworded, legend of, ii.
290, 291

352

PILGRIMS.

INDEX.

SATOW'S.

Pilgrims to Is^, ii. 238, 243, 258
“ Pillow- words,” ii. 68
Pine-tree, an ancient, the Haneno-
Matz, ii. 175 ; legend of, 240
Pinshang captured by the Japanese,

i. 306

Poetry, Japanese, ii. 62 ; a verse by
the god Susanoo, 63 ; chant of the
goddess Uzume, 64 ; the Man-
yoshin, 64 ; a “ No,” 65 ; specimens
of native, 66

Police, the, ii. 12 ; escorts for the
cabinet ministers, 304
Police-force constituted, i. 322, 323
Population of Japan,* in 1744, i. 236
Porcelain ware, the, of Seto (Owari),

ii. 272

Ports, closing of the, i. 267
Portugal, beginning of intercourse
with Japan, i. 294
Postal system, i. xxxix. 327
Prayers, Shinto, i. 43, 44, 45, 49
Praying-wheel, the, ii. 28
Priests, Shinto, i. 61, 63, ii. 11
Principalities, the, surrendered, i. 319
Producers, the Divine and Lofty, i.
xxix. 27

Pi’ofessors brought from foreign coun-
tries, i. 129

Protestant Buddhists of Japan, the, i.
86

Proverbs and phrases of the people, ii.
105-112

Public instruction, progress of, i. 236

Race, the Japanese, its origin, i. xxvi.
14

Races, mixture of, i. 17
Railways, ii. 5, 6

Regalia, imperial, origin of the Japan-
ese, ii. 246

Reigen, Emperor, i. 230
Rein, Dr., on the climate of Japan, i.
7-9

Reizei-Tenno, revolt in his reign, i.
135

Relations of England and Japan,
present diplomatic, i. xxxi. lii.
Religion, early, of the Japanese, i.
xxvii. 39

Religious element in the Japanese, i.
xxvii.

Representatives, the foreign, receivf d
by Tenno the‘ Heaven-king,’ i. 279

* Present population, about 34 million.^.

Rice-fields, ii. 14

Richardson, Mr., murdered, i. 265 ;

indemnity demanded and paid, 266
Richiu, Emperor, i. 56
Righteous party, the, i. 283
River navigation, ii. 160, 161
River-beds, raised, ii. 160
Rivers, the principal, i. 4
Roman Catholicism in Japan (see
Christianity in Japan)

Ronins, the, rebellion of, i. 269
Buijin-Kokuslii, the, composed by
Sugawara-Michisane, i. 134
Russia, relations with Japan, i. 313 ;
message to the governor of Matsu-
maye, 315 ; obtains possession of
Saghalin, 317

Russian demands on Japan, i. 237,
247 ; war ships at Itorup, 313,
314, 317

Saburo Shimadzu, i. 265, 334 ; dis-
satisfaction, 335 ; visits Tokio, 337 ;
remonstrates with the imperial
government, 337 ; accepts nominal
office in the emperor’s household,
338 ; returns to Kagoshima, 338
Sagami, sea of, ii. 307
Saghalin surrendered to Russia, i.
317

Saigo of Satsuma, i. 333 ; hatred of
the Tokugawas, 334 ; attempts to
drown himself, 335 ; banished to
Oshima, 335 ; recalled, 335 ; sup-
posed political manifesto, 336 ;
commander-in-chief, 337 ; with-
draws to his province, 337 ; invests
Kumamoto, 341 ; Admiral Kawam-
I ura’s appeal to him, 342 ; his inso-
lent answer, 343 ; escapes, 345 ;
captures Kagoshima, 346 ; death
and burial, 347, 348
Saigo, General, minister at war, i. 359
Saikio, ii. 179 (see Kioto)

Saimei, Empress, i. 108 (see Kokioku)
Sakai, visit to, ii. 156 ; carpet-factory,
157

Sake, the national beverage, ii. 15,
148

Salt, production of, ii. 298
Samurai, the, i. 218, 219
Sanjo, prime minister, i. 256, 269,
270, 277, 356, ii. 20, 21
Satow’s, Mr. Ernest, writings on the
mythology and religion of Japan,
i. 20, 24, 26, 40, 44, 46, 62

SATSUMA.

INDEX.

SPENCER.

353

Satsuma and Chosbiu clans, long-
standing grievances of the, i. 242 ;
protect Kioto, 268 ; reconciled,
274 ; honours granted to, 279
Satsuma rebellion, the, i. 332-348
Saviour, Buddhist doctrine of a,
83-9

Scenery, country, ii. 14
School, female, in Tokio, i. 329 (see
also Kioto)

Schools of Japanese art, ii. 89 ; the
Korai Bin, 89 ; Kara Kin, 89 ;
Kanaoka Kin, 90 ; Takuma Kin,
90 ; Toba-ye, 90 ; Otsu-yd, 90 ;
Josetsu Kin, 90 ; Sesshiu Kin, 91 ;
Tosa Kin, 91 ; Kano Kin, 91 ; Icho
Kin, 91 ; Dkiyo-ye, 91 ; Shiyo Kin,
92

Scriptures, the Japanese Sacred (see
Kojiki and Nihonki)

Sedsagatake, battle of, i. 197
Seikenji, Buddhist temple, ii. 297
Seki, ii. 238

Seki-san, image of, i. xxi.

Sekigahara, battle of, i. 207-209
Sekis, or gates of the Tokaido, ii. 306
Semitic family of languages, the,

i. XXV. ; ii. 52
Semites, the-, ii. 77
Sempstresses, Chinese, i. 125
Seven Spearmen of Sedsagatake, i.

197

Shadoofs, or levers for raising water,

ii. 158

Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha, i. 66,
see Buddha

Shampooers, Japanese, ii. 13
Shibata resists Hideyoshi, i. 196;
defeated, kills his wife and children,
and commits suicide, 197
Shiba temples, the, i. 222, 282; ii.
22

Shidzuoka, formerlyFuchiu, also Sum-
pu, i. 205 ; ii. 286 ; lacquer, inlaid and
bamboo-work, 286 ; tea cultivation,
286 ; residence of lyeyasu, 287 ;
Hirata Atsutane composed his ‘Ko-
shi-seibun,’ 288 ; the “ night-crying
stone,” 289 ; the sworded pheasant,
290 ; wishing bell, 292
Shimabara, Christian revolt at, i. 227;

besieged and captured, 228
Shiraadzu family, its policy, i. 333
Shimagomo, Shinto temple at, ii. 185
Shimonoseki, bombardment of, i. 268 ;
straits of, ii. 127 ; attack of the
VOL. II.

combined squadrons, 128 ; the town?
129 ; legend of the temjde, 130 ;
overthrow of the Taira, 130
Shinji, or God letters, ii. 55-6
Shinraii Shonin, doctrine of, i. 83 ;

founder of the Shinshu, 83
Shin -Shu, brief account of, i. 84 ; its
creed, 86

Shinto religion, its kami or gods, i.
xxvii. 39 ; its reverence for great
and heroic ancestors, i. xxix. ; its
ritual , or norito, 46-52 ; a real
religious system, 53 ; simple forms
of worship, 59 ; purification and
cleanliness, 60, 61 ; respect for
life, 61 ; simple demeanour of their
priests, 61 ; temples and votive
offerings, 62

temples near Sakai, ii. 177

Shiriaku, the Kinse, i. 241
Shiuniyodo, Buddhist temple of, ii.
191

Shiyo Kin, founded by Okio, ii. 87
Shogitai rebels, the, i. 281 ; driven
from Wooyeno, 282
Shogunate, the, founded, i. 153 ; made
hereditary by Taka-Uji, 175
Shoguns, the, origin of their title,

i. 152 ; became the real masters of
the country, 153 ; the decline of
their power, 184 ; their final over-
throw in 1867, 275

Shohei and Tenkei, revolt of, i. 112
Shokkoba, weaving factory at Kioto,

ii. 194

Shop, a movable, ii. 12
Shops, native, ii. 8, 9, 24
Shotoku, Empress, spread of Bud-
dhism under, i. 80

Shotoku-Taishi, i. 76; story of his
life, 77, 78 ; his carvings in the
temple of Horiuji, ii. 162
Schucho-Shinno, the prince-priest at
Nikko, i. 230

Shugakuin, summer-seat of the Mi-
kado, ii. 186

Silk factories, (see Kioto)
Simultaneous dynasties, the, 167
Siomizaka, colossal bronze statue of
Kwannon at, ii. 281
Smuggling suppressor!, i. 234
Son-o, the priest, story of, i. 222,
223

Spaniards, beginning of intercourse
with Japan, i. 294
Spencer, Mr. Herbert, i. 28

2 A

354

SPIRIT,

INDEX.

TOKIO.

Spirit, the roii^h, and the gentle, i.
45

Stature of Japanese men and women,
i. 17; ii. 157

Steamships, commercial, i. 322
StirlinoTj Rear-Admiral, in Japan, i.
251^

Stone, the Sacred, i. 30, 32
Sudsuga, mountain pass of, ii. 238
Sugar-cane, its culture introduced into
Japan, i. 235

Sugawara family, the, i. 132 ; literary
fame, 133

Suiko, first Empress of Japan, i.
108 ; diplomatic intercourse between
Japan and China, 289
Suinin, Emperor, his humane works, i.
' 55

Suisei, and other emperors, i. 102,
103

Sujin, Emperor, ‘ the Civilizer,’ his
efforts for the welfare of his people,

i. 54; the father of Japanese agri-
culture, 55 ; relations between
Korea and Japan, 121

Sumiyoshi, the temple of the sea-gods,

ii. 141 ; musical service, 142
Sumpu, ii. 286 (see Shidzuoka)
Sun-goddess, the (see Amaterasu)
Sunten, son of Tametomo, king of

Loo-choo, i. 309

Surazaga, miraculous appearance of
the goddess Kwannou to Prince
Bezin at, ii. 280
Suruga Bay, ii. 297
Susanoo, god of the sea ; i. 29, 31 ;

his poem, ii. 63 ; offence, 245
Sword, the Sacred, i. 29 ; ii. 266 ; its
history, 267-269

Sword-making, an honourable pro-
fession, ii. 270

Swords, their estimation in Japan,
ii. 269; forms and qualities, 270;
inscriptions, 271 ; etiquette of,
271 ; celebrated, and makers, 328-
342

Symbols, religious, of Japan, origin of,
i. 34

Tadamori repels the pirates, i. 139
Taiko Hideyoshi, summer residence
of, ii. 212 ; atthe Kiyomidzu temple,
220 ; and the Dai-butsii, 225 (see
also Hideyoshi)

Tiiira family, the, i. 135 ; use the red
flag, 137 ; rising military power.

140 ; ascendency, 145 ; final pur-
suit and overthrow, 150
Taira Masakado, the “ new emperor,”
i. 112; his boy emperors, 113
Takahara, town of, ii. 120
Takashima, coal-mines of, ii. 132, 133
Taka-Uji proclaims Yiita-Hito, i. 116 ;
the first of the Ashikagas, 165;
obtains possession of Kioto and
raises Komio-Tenuo to the throne,
174 ; enjoys all but imperial power
at Kamakura, 174 ; makes the
Shogunate hereditary, 175 ; his
character, 176

Tametomo, the famous archer, i. 141
Tariff convention, the, ii. 321-325
Tatsuta village, ii. 161
Tea-drinking, ii. 15
Tea-making, ceremonial, ii. 225
Telegraphs, land, i. 327
'J'emperature, i. 14

'J’emple, Shinto, ii. 10 ; mode of wor-
ship, 10 ; the Torii, 11
Temples, Buddhist, in Japan, number
of, i. 90

Temples of Shiba, i. 222 ; destroyed,
282

Tengan or infinite vision, discourse
on, i. 92-99

Tenji-Tenno, his reforms and inven-
tions, i. 127 ; founds the first school
in Japan, 127 ; creates the office of
Dai-jo-Dai-jin, 128; and of Kai-
Dai-jin, 128 ; his wise reign, 128
Tenrin, river, ii. 279; bridge over,
283

Terashima, minister for foreign affairs,
i. 357

To, a ten-leaved, at Kiyomidzu, ii.
221

Toba gives the name to Tobaye, or
caricatures, ii. 84
Toji temples, the, ii. 210
Tpkaido, the, ii. 232, 278 ; neglected
state of, 310

Tokio (Yedo) arrival of the emperor,
i. 285 ; the capital and residence of
the emperor, 320; founded, ii. 21 ;
castle, 21 ; temples, 22 ; VVooyeno,
22 ; European buildings, 23 ; native
shops, 24 ; temple of Asakusa, 24 ;
the Nio, or giant gate-keepers, 26 ;
lacquer- work, 31-36 ; bronze- work,
36-41 ; paper-manufacture, 41-45 ;
government and administration,
45 ; statistic account, 45-47

TOKIWA.

INDEX.

YOSHIDA.

355

Tukiwa, the peasant girl, mother of
Yositsune, i. 146

Tokugawa Shoguns, list of, i. 238 ;
rebels assume the name of Shogitai,
281 ; tomb-temples, ii. 22 ; their
family city, 286-8

Torii, description of the, i. 62; a
large, in the sea, ii. 120
Torture abolished, i. 324
Tos i Nikki, or “ Tosa Diary,” ii. 57-
61

Tosa school, or Rin, ii. 85
Trade, freedom of, i. xl.-xlii.

dollar, the Japanese, i. 326

regulations, British, in Japan,

ii. 316-320

Transmigration, the Buddhist doc-
trine of, i. 74

Treaty, the English, i. xlii. ; of Lord
Elgin, xliii. ; of 1858, xlv. ; between
Japan and Europe and the United
States, 273 ; between Great Britain
and Japan, ii. 311-316
Trinity, a Taiwanese, i. 25
Tsii, town, ii. 262
Tsuchiyama village, ii. 236
Tsunayoshi, Shogun, i. 232 ; promotes
education and literature, 233 ; his
changes in the coinage, 233
Tungusic race, the Japanese, a, i. 16
Tunnel through a mountain, ii. 285
Turanian tongues, the, i. xxiv., xxv.,
ii. 52

Turauian white race in Africa, ii. 76
Turano-African Empire, a, i. xxv.
17 ; ii. 76-79

Tycoons (Tai-kims), the, i. 2C9 ; ii. 21
Typhoons, i. 12, 13

UchLmochi, the goddess, ii. 245
Uji, village, ii. 227, do. in Ise, 249
Ukiyo-ye, or social pictures, ii. 86,87
University (Daigakko), the, at Tokio,
i. 329

Uziime, the goddess, i. 32 ; her danc-
ing, 33

Vedism, i. 64

Vegetable productions, i. 13
Volcanic disturbances, i. 9
Votive offerings, i. 62
Vries, volcanic island of, i. 3

Wakamatsu, siege of, i. 283
Wakamiya, Shinto shrine of, ii. 173 ;
religious dance, 174

Waki-Irako, Prince, suicide of, i. 105
Wani, tutor to Prince Waki-Irako,

i. 126

Watanabe Shoka, the famous artist,

ii. 279

Wicked Party, the, i. 283
Wind, god, and goddess of the, i. 44
Women, Japanese, their influence on
literature, ii. 67, 68
Wooyeno, fighting at, i. 281 ; temples
at, ii. 22

Xaviek, the Jesuit missionary at
Kioto, i. 190

Yamada, ancient shrines of Ise, ii.
244

Yamagata, General, his victories over
the rebels, i. 283

Yamato-Dake, Prince, i. 121 ; his
expedition against the Ainos, ii.
267 (see 0-usn)

Yamato, baths of, ii. 307 ; Mr. Saido’s
hotel, 307 ; mixed bathing, 308
Yayeyama islands, the, i. 3
Year-periods, list of, ii. 328-330
Yedo (Tokio) founded by lyeyasu, i.
220; ravaged by fire, 230; rapid
growth of, 231 ; its name changed
to Tokio, 284

, gulf of, ii. 2

Yen, the, or dollar, i. 326
Yezo island, attacked by the Russians,
i. 237

Yokkaichi, ii. 263, 264
Yokohama, English troops stationed
at, i. 259

bay, ii. 2

Yorimasa, the legend of, ii. 102
Yoritomo, founder of Kamakura, i.
146 ; banished to Idsu, and marries
]\Iasago of the house of Hojo, 147 ;
his progress through the Kuanto,
148 ; tries to assassinate his brother
Yositune, 151 ; his title of Sei-i-
Shogun, 152 ; increases his power,
153; his character, 154; his grave
at Kama-kura, 155
Yoshi-ye, afterwards Hachiman-Toro,
^ i. 138

Yoshiaki, made Shogun, i. 185 ;
conspires against Nobunaga, 186
I Yoshida, Shinto temple of, ii. 189 ;
1 tombs of the Mikados, 190 ; town,
i 279

356

YOSHIMASA.

INDEX.

YURIAKU.

Yosbimasa, Shogun, i. 181 ; culti-
vates the arts, 183 ; introduces
ceremonial tea-making, ii. 225
Yoshimitzu, the ex-Shogun, accepts
from China the title of “ King of
Japan,” i. 293

Yoshimoto, monument to, ii. 278
Y^oshimime, Shogun, his interest in
astronomy and other branches of
science, i. 234; builds an obser-
vatory, 235 ; called the “ Rice
Shogun,” 235

Yoshinaka, the “ Morning Sun Gene-
ral,” i. 148-50

Y’’oshinoro, Shogun, assassinated, i. 179
Yoshitane, Shogun, imprisoned, re-
stored, and again deposed, i. 183
Yoshitoshi, envoy to Korea, i. 302
Yosisada, i. 169, (see Nitta)

Yositomo, i. 140, 144 ; his wife and
three sons, 146

Yositsune, the “Bayard” of Japan, i.
146 ; joins his brother Yoritomo,
147 ; his persecutions, wanderings,
and assassination, 151
Yuriaku, Emperor, encourages the cul-
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